



> 



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OH^R^CTER 






STONEWALL JACKSON. 



I AM BECOME A NAME. 

Ulysses : Tennyson. 



By JOHN WARWICK DANIEL. 



LYNCHBURG: 
SCHAFFTER & BRYANT, Printers. 

1868. 



."E^fel 



1 \b 



sli 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S6S, liy 

SCIIAFFTER & BRYANT, 

111 tlie Diatriit Court of the United States for the District of Virginia. 



NOTE. 

This Sketch ot Jackson is an overgrown Lecture delivered for the 
benefit of the Manassas Memorial Association. It was thought 
advisable to elaborate the details in preparing it for print, and hence 
its proportions are enlarged while its original style is retained. 

The following volumes have been chiefly relied upon for information: 

I. Lift of Lieut.-Gen. Thomas J. Jack.ien, by R. L. Dabney, D.D. Blelock & Co., N. Y., 1S66. 

II. The Life of Stoneiuall Jackson, from Official Papers, Contemporary Narratives, and Per- 

sonal Acquaintance, by a Viroin-ian. Charles B. KicharJson, N. Y., 1S66. 

III. The Life of Thomas J. Jackson, by an Ex-Cadet. .Tames E. Goode, Richmond, 1864. 

IV. Life of Jefferson Davis and Stonewall Jackson. M. Doolady, N. Y., 1866. 

V. Life and Campaigns of Gen. Robert E. Lee, by .Tames D. McCade, .Tr. National Publish- 

ing Company. 

VI. Army of the Potomac, by William Swixton. Cliarles B. Richardson, N. Y., 1866. 

VII. A Memoir of the Last Year of the War for Independence in the Confederate States 
of America, containing an account of the Operations of his Commands in the years 
1S6J, and 1S65, by Lieut.-Gen. Jubal A. Early. C. W. Button, Lynchburg, 1867. 

VIII. Official Reports of the Confederate States, and United States Authorities. 



STONEWALL JACKSON. 



I 

The Caskets in the Merchant of Venice that were outwardly 
attractive were proportionately deceptive. The Prince of Morocco, 
Portia's first suitor, chose the golden casket, and found in it a death's 
head. The Prince of Arragon chose the silver one, and was rewarded 
with the image of a fool. Bassanio selected the modest casket of 
lead, and within discovered the likeness of his sweet-heart, which 
was the title to her hand. 

The disappointed lovers in the Shakspearian drama were not 
more deluded by appearances than were the people of the Confe- 
derate States in many of the public men to whom they committed 
their destinies in the late revolution. With the preeminent excep- 
tion of Jefferson Davis, (by far the greatest man produced on either 
side,) and one or two others of lesser note, the politicians who 
figured in the preliminaries of the war proved, like the companions 
of Ulysses, incapable of directing the winds they had succeeded in 
arousing. They were, generally speaking, marplots in military affairs, 
short-sighted and impracticable in finance, and the various other 
departments of political economy. They were depressed and lost 
hope with our first serious adversities, and the death's head of a Lost 
Cause is all that we have gained from their golden promises. A large 
majority of the military men, in whom it was confidently hoped the 
South would find great leaders for her armies, were also disappoint- 
ments. Their course was marked by devoted patriotism and deter- 
mined valor, and no reproach stains their swords. But with rare 



exceptions they proved incapable of comprehending the grand pro- 
portions and the practical necessities of the revolution, or of com- 
bining armies in a wide and complicated field of operations, and the 
contents of the silver casket were little less in harmony with its 
shining exterior than were their performances with the expectations 
they excited. 

• It was in a man in whom none imagined to repose the capacities of 
a great captain, in whom were disclosed those rare martial qualities 
that best befit the chief of men inflamed with the ideas and passions 
of a revolution. It was a plain Presbyterian deacon, a professor in 
a military academy, known hitherto only as a brave subordinate, a 
conscientious churchman, and an earnest instructor of youth, who 
rose the most rapidly to high command, wlio proved most capable of 
wielding it, who achieved the most brilliant feats of arms, and died 
the most regretted. And as Bassanio found in the modest casket of 
lead the talisman of his success in love, so did the people of the South 
find in the modest person of Stonewall Jackson the talisman of 
their success in war. In his genius was contained the likeness of 
our victories, and but for the inscrutable Providence that struck him 
down we would in all probability have found the title-deeds of our 
independence. 

Since the curtain fell after the bloody tragedy of the secession 
war, every form of intellectual communication has been busily 
employed to familiarize the world with its actors. Essayists, medal- 
ists, lecturers, painters, sculptors and historians have all been tasked 
to meet popular demands ; and amongst their productions we have 
five histories, and many other lesser delineations of Jackson. 

The first of these histories — as they arc called by courtesy — is from 
the Richmond press, and purports to be written by an ex-cadet. 
Who he may be, we do not know and have no curiosity to know. 
The book is a small one, and chiefly a rehash of newspaper articles, 
and has no value as historical authority. 

We have then a history of Jefi"erson Davis and Stonewall Jackson 
under one cover from M. Doolady, of New York. The volume is 
written in admirable temper, and with an evident desire for justice. 
It was intended, however, for current sale, and has no merit as a 
history. 

A life of Jackson, by a Virginian, from Ilichardson's publishing 
house, came out in 1866. and the public were falsely assured that it 



was from the peu of John M. Daniel. This fraud answered its pur- 
pose in procuring buyers, and the same work was then republished 
by Appleton, under the name of its true author, Captain John Esten 
Cooke. The book is written in a lively, gossipy style, and contains 
some striking sketches; but*it would be a grave misnomer to call it a 
history. 

Dr. Dabney has given us the most elaborate, reliable and interest- 
ing treatment of the subject. But it is not a military history in the 
professional meaning of the term, and such a history was the kind 
wanted. There is too much of Dr. Dabney's and of General Jackson's 
religious opinions. Jackson's religious character is inseparable from 
his military character, and a brief sketch of its striking features 
would have been in good taste ; but the laborious arguments of Dr. 
Dabney in defence of Prcsbyterianism, and his strictures upon other 
denominations, are entirely out of place. Equally ill-timed are the 
frequent efforts of Dr. Dabney to show that in particular exigencies 
Providence took particular pains to assist or rescue Jackson and put 
victory in his hands. Polemics and tactics do not mix well together. 
Dr. Dabney's theological school is not a place for squad drill or lec- 
tures on projectiles, nor a military memoir a place for dissertations on 
special providences. We believe as firmly in an overruling Provi- 
dence as Dr. Dabney does. AVe believe that Providence helps those 
who help themselves; but as to how or when, that no mortal can say. 
As the poet has told us. Providence is 

" All Isis hid under a veil,'' 

and, indeed, Kevelation itself has said that " its ways are past finding 
out." 

Jackson and his Confederates appeal to a higher tribunal than mere 
success. As Scott* has tersely put the case, we think that mere 
victory, as the satirist has said of wealth, cannot be of much impor- 
tance in the eye of Heaven, seeing in what unworthy association it is 
sometimes found. Aside from these blemishes of taste, the book is a 
good one, and so far superior to the majority of war books that it 
deserves a generous public favor. 

The History of Lee, so-called, by McCabe, is valuable only for the 
portions which the author did not write — the military dispatches and 
reports. The rest is unreclaimed by a single merit. 

* Life of NiiiioU'ou. 



8 

The History of the Army of the Potomac, by Mr. Swinton does 
honor to his head and his heart. It is the best military work that 
the war has produced. The author has aimed to do full justice to the 
Army of Northern Virginia and its leaders, and it is equally credita- 
ble to him who saw it only from hostile ranks, and to it, " that body 
of incomparable infantry," as he terms it, that his pen should have 
pronounced its noblest eulogy.* 

General Early's book is in every respect admirable — admirable in 
temper, admirable in design, admirable in its composition and in its 
object. It touches only upon campaigns subsequent to Jackson's 
death, but they were fought often upon the same fields and with the 
same men, and this volume throws light upon anterior events. Its 
topographical descriptions arc remarkably clear and accurate, and it 
is a book which may be relied upon. Its author, with a generosity 
that shines as conspicuously in these self-seeking times as his ability 
and heroism shone in the war, has donated the proceeds of its sale to 
the Memorial Associations of Virginia, which have for their object 
the decent interment of the Confederate Dead. From these sources, 
from ofiicial documents, and from personal recollections of the Army, 
we shall attempt to present a correct idea of Jackson, and we hope, 
even in a pamphlet, to produce a true image of his character, as the 
truth of a likeness docs not depend on its size. Had Haephestion 
carried out his conception of hewing Mt. Athos into a statue of 
Alexander his form and features would not have been so well expressed 
as in the statuette that sits upon the mantel ; and our aim shall be 
to reverse the idea of the ancient artist, and reduce a mass of history 
into the miniature of a Colossus. 



II 

Thomas Jonathan Jackson was born in Clarksburg, Harrison 
county, (West) Virginia, on the 21st of January, 1824. His ances- 
tors were English settlers, who had fixed their residence in that sec- 
tion in 1748. The Jackson family have been distinguished from the 
first — as far as their record reaches — as people of energy, integrity, 
courage, and sterling good sense, and it has been frequently and 
worthily represented in Congress, in the Judiciary, and in the Gen- 
eral Assembly of Virginia. When Jackson was three years old, his 

* Vide sec XIII of this pamplilet. 



father, who seems to have had but little business capacity, died a 
bankrupt, and the orphan found an asylum in the home of an uncle, 
with whom he resided until seventeen years of age. That Thomas 
generally labored on the farm during the larger part of the year, 
and learned the rudiments of an ordinary education during the 
winter months; that he was serious and meditative in his caste of 
mind, hardy in frame, good natured, resolute, and industrious, con- 
stitute the chief facts which the biographers have resurrected from 
the traditions of his early years. As soon as a hero has made a pro- 
found impression on his times, it seems quite easy for his historians 
to discover in his boyish antecedents the lineaments of the coming 
man. We are told that Napoleon gave unmistakeable prognostica- 
tions of Toulon and Austerlitz in laying siege to snow forts and lead- 
ing forlorn hopes with snowballs during his first winter campaign in 
boots and breeches. As soon as Clive had finished his daring career 
in India, all the old folks of his neighborhood in England chatted 
about the mad-cap pranks of Bob Clive when a boy, and told a won- 
dering world how, to the great terror of all sober-minded people, he 
use^ to climb up the steeple of Market Drayton, and nicely balance 
himself upon the summit. We have all been fully informed by the 
father of General Grant how distinctly Ulysses' idea of sticking to a 
bad line, though it took all summer, was prefigured by his sticking to 
a bad horse in a circus some forty years ago. We have no very sig- 
nificant premonitions of Manassas, and Chancellorsville, and the Foot 
Cavalry of the Valley, in our hero's youthful amusements, except 
that he succeeded admirably in mauling rails, while his genius occa- 
sionally broke out in a horse race. Dr. Dabney says that it was the 
gossip of all the countryside that if a horse had any winning quali- 
ties in him they would inevitably come out when young Tom Jackson 
rode him in the race. 

As he approached manhood, however, he distinctly revealed those 
strong qualities which are visible throughout his subsequent career. 
A great, earnest Englishman* of our own day has justly said, that 
'• sincerity — a great, deep, genuine sincerity — is the first characteristic 
of all men in any way heroic." Sincerity of purpose, sustained by a 
never flagging, never hesitating, ever working resolution — sincerity 
that went forward, and feared not, is the most marked characteristic 
of Jackson. At about eighteen years of age he resolved to become 



*Carl.vlo: Heroes in History. 
B 



10 

a soldier. He was then without a better education than could be 
acquired at an old field school; he had little means and few friends; 
and these discouraged his purpose to apply for a vacant cadetship at 
West Point. But he had made up his mind, and he answered: "I 
know I shall have the application necessary to succeed ; I hope that I 
have the capacity ; at least I am determined to try." He finally suc- 
ceeded in getting an appointment at West Point, and entered the 
academy in 1842. He barely managed to pass his first examination, 
but his progress, though slow, was steady and thorough. He made 
it a rule never to pass over the page of a text book until he had mas- 
tered it. He graduated seventeenth in a distinguished class ; and 
such had been his indomitable energy that it was generally remarked 
that had the course been a little longer he would assuredly have grad- 
uated at the head. 

In 1846, his novitiate at West Point having ended, he became 
second lieutenant of artillery in the United States Army. 

The Mexican war was then in progress, and he was soon sent to 
the field as second lieutenant in the light battery of Captain John 
Bankhead Magruder. In his first fight, at the bombardment of Vera 
Cruz, his gallantry won promotion to a first lieutenancy. In the 
second he became a captain by brevet, and when the army entered 
the city of Mexico he had arisen to the rank of major. In the entire 
army of General Scott, comprising, as it did, the choice military 
spirits of the United States, who became the leaders of the armies 
of the North and South, there was not one who had received more 
frequent recognitions of merit than this modest lieutenant who had 
no friends but those of his own making, and had met with no oppor- 
tunity without improving it. 

After the close of the Mexican war he served for several years on 
garrison duty in New York and in Florida. In 1851 he was elected 
Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy and Artillery 
Tactics in the Virginia Military Institute. He held that position 
until 1861, when he left it at the head of the corps of cadets, and 
never returned until, after signalizing his name and his country for- 
ever, he returned upon his bier. 



11 

III 

Let us glance at some of his prominent qualities as a man before 
criticising his genius as a General. 

Plutarch has observed, in speaking of one of his heroes, that as 
the expression of the eye often gives us more insight into character 
than the whole countenance besides, so do incidents and anecdotes 
reveal more than extended history. There is no character of the war 
of whom more characteristic incidents are related than Jackson, or 
of whom the incidents are so characteristic. {lie was altogether 
unique and original, and had more individuality than any man of his 
times. J He was a man of inflexible qualities. He had neither quick- 
ness nor brilliancy ol' mind, but he was an excellent illustration of 
the principle that he who can control himself can control others, and 
his self-control was nearly perfect. By severe discipline he had 
acquired the power of concentrating or relaxing his energies at will. 
It was his habit while a professor to spend some hours every night in 
meditation upon the lessons of the day, and this practice wonderfully 
developed his memory and his powers of ratiocination. He /was 
never diverted from his studies by the conversation of others, but 
having once fixed his attention upon an object he was oblivious to all 
things else until that object was accomplished. His punctuality 
became a proverb amongst the cadets of the Institute. He slept, 
studied, and performed all his duties by clock work; and his asso- 
ciates knew the time of day by the movements of Major Jackson. 
He governed his physical appetites with a rod of iron. Except under 
medical advice he never touched ardent spirits. To a companion in 
the army, who invited him to join him in a social glass, he said : 
"No; I am much obliged to you, but I never use it. I like it, but I 
am more afraid of it than of federal bullets." " When the people 
about him," says Dr. Dabney, " complained of headaches or other 
consequences of imprudence, he would say, 'Do as I do : govern 
yourself absolutely, and you will not suffer. My head never aches. 
If a thing disagrees with me, I never eat it.'" He used no stimu- 
lants whatever — neither coffee, tea, tobacco or wine, but with rigid 
simplicity confined himself to the most abstemious asceticism. It 
was a maxim which he early adopted, and soon illustrated, that "You 
may be whatever you resolve to be;" and the good sense which pre- 
ceded, and the stern determination which followed out his resolutions, 
were sure sruarantees of their successful results. 



12 

His keen appreciation of, and his warm devotion to principles, indi- 
cated a moral nature of the finest and strongest texture.* Perhaps 
he was more scrupulous about small matters than principle required, 
but it was because he knew that small defects lead to great vices — that 

"It is the little rift within the lute 
That by and by will make the music mute, 
And ever widening, slowly silence all." 

As a professor Major Jackson seems to have discharged his duties 
with ability and satisfaction, but his reserved manners, his reticence, 
and his vigorous discipline prevented him from becoming very popular 
with the cadets, who are always most fond of those genial, sociable 
natures which mingle most freely with them. He was not fluent, 
though lucid in his lectures. It is said that in order to acquire 
facility in lecturing he joined a debating society in Lexington. He 
was at first very awkward and halting in his efforts, and had fre- 
quently to resume his seat in confusion ; but he persisted in spite of 
repeated failures, and became a clear and forcible, though never 
loquent, speaker. 

In his religious character, Jackson revealed all his earnestness, 
lethod, industry, and solid enthusiasm, verifying his professions by 
his deeds. When his mind was exercised for the first time on the 
subject of religion, he studied the Bible before he studied any creed — 
he went to the fountain head of all orthodox religion at once, lie 
then availed himself of his residence in Mexico to become thoroughly 
acquainted with the doctrines of Roman Catholicism, which pleased 



* " He was accustomed to argue that having determined any rule to be 
necessary, he was under a moral obligation to observe it. In vain did any 
friend plead that the one instance of relaxation in his system could not pos- 
sibly work an appreciable injury. His uniform answer was: 'Perfectly 
true ; but it would become a precedent for another, and thus my rule would 
be broken down and health would be injured, which would be a sin.' Thus 
he carried out his self-denial in the use of his eye-sight so rigidly that even 
a letter received on Saturday night, if it was only one of compliment and 
friendship, was not read by him until Monday morning ; for his Sabbaths 
were sacredly reserved from the smallest secular distractions. If his friend 
exclaimed, 'Surely your eyes would not be injured by the reading of one 
letter now,' his answer was, 'I suppose they would not ; but if I read this 
letter to-night, which it is not truly necessary to do, I shall be tempted to 
read something else that interests me to-morrow night, and the next, so 
that my rule will be broken down.'" — Dr. Dahncy, p. 75. 



13 

but did not satisfy him. He then studied the doctrines of Episcopacy 
and other denominations, and finally settled into Calvinistic Presby- 
terianism. He has been called a fanatic in religion, but not justly; 
for while he was firm to immovability in his own opinions, while he 
carried his belief in the special interferences of Providence beyond 
ordinary creeds, he was not only tolerant, but liberal in his views 
of the religion of others, freely according the right of perfect 
freedom to their opinions which he asserted to his own. He has 
been compared to Cromwell very properly, so far as his infiexible 
abilities for ruling men are concerned, but there was nothing of the 
puritan in his composition. He was of metal equally hard but more 
finely tempered in the fires of a purer Christianity. He carried his 
whole soul into the church as into all his undertakings. He 
instructed a class of young men in Lexington in the evidences of 
Christianity, and delivered a course of public lectures on the same 
subject in Beverly, Kandolph county, Virginia. He founded and 
taught as principal a Sabbath school of African slaves, consisting 
of about one hundred pupils and twelve teachers. Being pleased 
with the Hebrew system of religious oblations, he scrupulously 
donated a tithe of his whole income to charitable purposes, besides 
liberally responding to all special appeals when worthy. His religion 
tinged all the acts of his life. It was to him the key of the morning 
and the bolt of the night. It was no shining Sunday garment, but 
his uniform at home and abroad ; his cloak in bivouac, his armor in 
battle. Frequently, wben his army was being formed for battle, 
his attendants noticed that his lips moved, and his right arm was 
upraised — they knew that he was in prayer. This done, his reso- 
lution was fixed, and execution followed the plan as the discharge of 
a missile follows the touch of the trigger, j 

It will be surprising to many to hear that Jackson was a man of 
the highest ambition. He aspired to eminence in whatever he under- 
took. He had that thirst for glory which is thp almost invariable 
characteristic of elevated minds, and is inconceivable to all others; 
and he used every honorable exertion to win it. At the battle of 
Chapultepec, where his section had lost severely, " his friends asked 
him if he felt no trepidation when so many were falling around him. 
He replied, ' No ; the only anxiety of which he was conscious in any 
engagement was a fear lest he should not meet danger enough to make 
his conduct under it as conspicuous as he desired; and as the fire grew 



14 

hotter he rejoiced ia it as his coveted opportunity.' "* He held that 
high rank in his profession should be the officer's highest consideration, 
for which convenience, ease, wealth, and all other personal comforts 
should be sacrified.f But his ambition was never overweening, 
envious, selfish, or ill-regulated. To an influential gentleman, who 
wrote to him for an appointment for a friend during the war, he 
answered : " If a person desires office in these times, the best thing 
for him to do is at once to pitch into service somewhere, and work 
with such energy, zeal, and success, as to impress those around him 
with the conviction that such are his merits he must be advanced or 
the interest of the public service must suffer. "| No fancy, orna- 
mental gentlemen for him ! It was by this means that his own ambi- 
tion sought elevation. 

He was no intriguer or office-seeker, but in whatever field he labored 
he pitched into obstacles with such "energy, zeal, and success" that 
promotion sought him. His was not the selfish ambition of a Caesar — 
" aut Csesar, aut nullus ;" it was not envious like that of Themistocles, 
whom the trophies of Militiades would not permit to sleep; but like 
that of Washington, it was inspired by the consciousness of merit, 
and chastened by devotion to duty. It was not the vain ambition 
that loved the uppermost places at feasts, or builded the monument 
for the monument's sake ; but it was the God-given desire to bring to 
its highest fruition the talent committed to him ; to become worthy of 
trust over many things by proving faithful over a few ; to set his light 
upon a hill that it might shine before men, and that seeing his good 
works, they should glorify the Father who sent him. 

Jackson's personal appearance sadly disappointed those who had 
expected to behold the hero of a picture He looked, as he ambled 
through his camps or his lines on his gaunt sorrel horse, more like a 
sailor, who had accidentally fallen up, and didn't know how to get 
down, than like a knightly leader about to perform deeds that song 
and story would remember. An old faded coat of grey, upon which 
every season had left its marks, rough boots, a plain military cap, 
were his constant dress, and no stranger who had met him as he thus 
attired rode unattended over the battle field, would ever have dreamed 
that he was "Stonewall Jackson." When he was in Maryland in 
1863 a crowd gathered near his headquarters to see him. They 

*Page 52, Dr. Dalmcy. 
tPage 68. 
JPage 250. 



L 



15 

expected epaulets, gold lace, feathers, ornamental aides-de-camp, and 
numerous interesting items of display. Presently General Jackson 
stepped out of his tent alone, and told a sentinel to keep the crowd at 
a distance. "What shabby looking chap is that?" inquired several. 
"That's 'old Stonewall,'" answered one of his men. "That Stone- 
wall Jackson ! Well, I guess he's no great shakes after all," said 
some of the bystanders; "he's not much for looks any how. '7 You 
had to come within reach of his eye before you felt the force of his 
presence. A more resolute, frank, honest, penetrating eye never 
illumined a human countenance, j " When I looked into his face," 
said a federal prisoner, " my heart sank within me." It was not 
generally the "blazing eye" which the war writers have spoken of, 
but there was an expression of inexorable purpose, of slumbering 
might in it, such as we have never beheld in another. 

"A king in the midst of bis body guard," says Carlyle,* " with all 
his trumpets, war horses, and gilt standard bearers, will look great, 
though he be little ; but only some Roman Carus can give audience 
to satrap ambassadors while seated on the ground, with a woollen cap, 
and supping on boiled peas like a common soldier." Any military 
pretender could create a sensation on Pennsylvania Avenue or 
Franklin Street during the war when duly rigged out with spurs, 
stars, plumes, and broad cloth — but only such solid men as Robert 
Lee, Jubal Early, and Stonewall Jackson, could make the faded gray 
appear grander than royal purple. j 



TV 

It has been a common cry against the officers of the Confederate 
States Army, who were educated at West Point at the expense of the 
people of the United States, that " they were taught by the charity of 
the nation, and that they ungenerously repaid it by turning their 
swords against their benefactors." The fanatics who urge this argu- 
ment must be fools " as gross as ignorance made drunk," if upon a 
cool reflection they do not see its error. The corps of cadets at West 
Point was composed of appointees made from the several States in 
proportion to the number of its people, as enumerated for Congres- 
sional representation; and although their expenses were paid from the 



*E9says : Schiller, p. 257. 



16 

Treasury of the general government, the means were supplied by tax- 
ation of the people of the States — so that each State really supported 
its own cadets. The southern cadets and army officers withdrew 
from the pay of the United States simultaneously with the withdrawal 
of their States from the Union. They were paid virtually by their 
own States while in public service, and resigned that service the 
instant that their States ceased to contribute their proportion of 
public expenditures. 

The party in power is now doing us an act of injustice in striking 
contrast to its false criticisms on our soldiers : taxing the Southern 
States to educate northern cadets at West Point, and denying entrance 
to the youths of the South. It is plain, however, that this question, 
and all similar ones, are involved in the one great issue of the war, 
" the right of a State to secede." If affirmed, all incidental ques- 
tions are affirmed. If negatived, all incidental questions are like- 
wise negatived, with neither more or less condemnation individually, 
than attaches to all. 

Jackson was a States Right Democrat, and believed in the right of 
secession ; but he was never prominently identified with the mainte- 
nance of that right until it was committed to arms, and his opinion 
amounts to no more on that subject than the opinion of any other 
upright and intelligent citizen. But, however the legal technicalities 
of secession may be determined, the fair fame of Jackson and his asso- 
ciates in arms cannot be affected. The Declaration of Independence 
had planted firmly in the American heart, and the " United States" 
itself traced its legitimacy as a nation to the seminal principle of nat- 
ural law, that it is one of the unalienable rights of a people to alter or 
abolish a government when it becomes destructive of the ends it was 
formed to secure ; and this truth is amply able to sustain the moral 
weight of the " Lost Cause," if the right of secession were struck 
from under it. Remitted to our rights as Revolutionists, we point 
proudly to the Revolution itself. For four years, eight millions of 
people, poorly provided in every material element of war, defied 
twenty millions, rich in every resource, and assisted by 300,000 
foreign soldiers — beating them back in battle, and yet staining their 
own hands in no needless blood. Such a struggle could only spring 
from a great cause. A people could not be exhorted by demagogues to 
such heroic and such long sustained efforts. It was a revolution of 
geography, of climate, of blood, of history, of social — not govern- 
mental — institutions. A spark kindled it, and it blazed up, a new 



17 

illustration of the truth well stated by Louis Napoleon in his Life of 
Csesar : " a great effect is always due to a great cause, never to a 
small one ; in other words, an accident insignificant in appearance 
never leads to important results, without a preexisting cause which 
has permitted this slight accident to produce a great effect. The 
spark only lights up a vast conflagration when it falls upon combus- 
tible matters previously collected. "* The election of Abraham 
Lincoln, a candidate committed to aggressive sectional principles, to 
the Presidency of the United States, was simply the spark that 
ignited the vast pile, which, indeed, was almost ready to flame out in 
spontaneous combustion. Each section instinctively grasped its arms, 
and the Confederates, having appealed to the " wager of battle," are 
compelled to abide by its decision. It was intended for, and is in 
fact, very good satire, but it is also a principle of that practically 
unprincipled code called International Law, that we find in the lines : 

" Treason ne'er prospers : what's the reason? 
When it does, men dare not call it Treason," 

or as Artemus Ward humorously puts the case, " Traitors are mighty 
unfortunate people ; if they wan't, they wouldn't be traitors." We, 
as a conquered people, will have to submit to be called traitors until 
good fortune gives us new names. But our bitterest enemies uncon- 
sciously grant that treason washed itself free of every stain, and 
shone in the spotless purity of honor and of truth, when she grasped 
the battle flag of the South. "Treason," say they, "must be made 
odious." Treason stands in history odorous of heroic deeds. What- 
ever odium may ever attach to it is to be distilled from the venomous 
lies of odious hearts. 

The magazine and newspaper writers of the North generally, have 
compared what they are pleased to call the " treason" of Jackson and 
Lee to that of Marlborough and Ney ; and some of them seem to 
imagine that they are excessively generous in elevating the dis- 
tinauished rebels to the companionship of such mighty names. The 
cases are not in the least analogous. The ex-officers of the United 
States Army who espoused the Confederate cause solemnly believed 
that paramount sovereignty existed in the governments of their 
States. They declared, in anticipation of war, that in that event they 
would follow the fortunes of their States. They proclaimed their 
sentiments openly in the army, while their representatives advocated 



* Preface to Lifi: of Orsar, hy Napoleon III. 
C 



18 

them in Congress, and such was the legal force of their opinions that 
those who combatted them in the field have shrunk from discussing 
them in the courts, even before judges of their own selection. To 
this day secession has not been decided to be unconstitutional, and 
our commander-in-chief, the rankest of traitors, if any are traitors, 
still lies in bonds, enduring, like Paul under the unjust centurion, a 
judgment which first condemns, then punishes, and finally investi- 
gates. The Confederates stand upon firmer legal ground than Wash- 
ington and his Generals. The latter claimed no right save that which 
exists in the universal instinct of self-defence, while the former, in 
addition to their natural rights, were guided by their own interpreta- 
tion, and a very generally recognized interpretation, of the written law. 
Let us glance at the case of Marlborough. He was a major gen- 
eral in the army of James II, when the aggressions of that monarch 
on the civil and religious liberties of his people caused them to rise 
in arms against him. In this exigency, Churchhill had the unques- 
tionable right to select which party he would join, and the moralist 
and the patriot could have found nothing to reprobate in his choice. 
But he endeavored to serve both masters until he could calculate 
which was the stronger. He retained his office, and enjoyed its 
emoluments, but secretly communicated with the Prince of Orange, 
and schemed against his benefactor. Caesar was not more unsus- 
picious of Brutus than James was of his favorite, and Brutus was 
not more unscrupulous in stabbing Caesar than Churchhill was in 
deserting James. The King, so far from listening to the whispers of 
his attendants against the loyalty of Churchhill, repressed and 
rebuked them ; and when the Prince of Orange had actually landed 
with an invading army, he promoted him to be lieutenant general, 
and dispatched him with a corps of five thousand men to meet him. 
Yet, three months before this, Churchhill had written to William that 
he was thoroughly devoted to his cause. James, in trusting ignor- 
ance of the perfidy of the chief stay of his throne, expected that the 
next bulletin would bring tidings of his success, and was startled 
when it arrived to learn that he had deserted, with the Duke of 
Grafton, and the principal officers of his regiment, to the standard of 
the invader. By a series of machinations Churchhill succeeded in 
seducing the monarch's own household and kinsmen from his cause ; 
even persuading the Princess Anne to desert the falling fortunes ot 
her father, and leaving the bereft and desolate king to feel like old 
Kin" Lear : 



19 



"How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is, 
To have a thankless child." 

"My God," exclaimed James, when he heard the news, "my very 
children have deserted me." Marlborough was simply a bold, brave, 
adroit, and selfish man, distinguished not more by his brilliant talents 
as a negotiator and a general, than he is approbious by his low and 
dishonorable craft. Like Themistocles, he was subtle, sagacious, 
fearless, and inexhaustible in resources, but like him, also, he dis- 
dained the limits that principle sets to action, and applied to meas- 
ures no other criterion than whether or not they were favorable to his 
designs. 

Marshal Ney's case is a little better. His impulses were good, 
and we can sympathize with him because he had none of that cold, 
calculating hard-heartedness that characterized Marlborough. But 
Ney was a traitor, and though his character may be white-washed 
with rhetoric, yet the dark color is plainly visible under the white- 
wash. After swearing allegiance to the Bourbons, he started out 
from the Tuileries declaring that he would bring back the ex-emperor 
in an iron cage. As soon as he got to camp he issued a proclamation 
calling on the troops to desert the Bourbons and mount the tri-color 
cockade. 

Marlborough, as Alison says, betrayed the trust reposed in him by 
his old master and tried benefactor, to range himself under the banner 
of a competitor for the throne, to whom he was bound neither by 
duty nor obligation. Ney abandoned the trust reposed in him by 
a new master, forced upon an unwilling nation, to rejoin his- old 
benefactor and companion-in-arms. 

Neither Jackson, or any of the Confederates betrayed any trust 
whatever. They acted openly, according to their construction of the 
Constitution. Marlborough's character wears an ineifaceable stain. 
Ney's, to say the least, is tarnished by his vacillation. Jackson's was 
distinguished not more by military ability than by moral worth, and 
when true history is written his name will be linked in the same 
bright chain with the names of Hampden and of Washington. 



20 



In attempting to analyze the military character of Jackson we 
cannot too carefully guard against those manifold causes which mis- 
lead public judgment of military men ; for there is no character so 
difficult to estimate, or to delineate as that of the military com- 
mander. We have seen in our own day so many pretenders made up 
into heroes by newspaper correspondents and political friends, that 
we have become skeptical of military fame, and are ready to subscribe 
to Aristotle's maxim : that the highest wisdom is incredulity — in 
military affairs at least. 

It was remarked by a sagacious French philosopher* that the eulo- 
gies pronounced on the Generals of France by members of the 
Academy would, with a few alterations of names and dates, apply as 
well to one as to another. And justly — for they were simply rhetori- 
cal variations of all the terms of military compliment which their 
vocabularies furnished, and the figure of the commander was obscured 
under the profusion of verbose decorations which they heaped upon 
him. It requires patient research and a keen discrimination to deter- 
mine in what proportion the victory is due to the genius of the chief, 
to the ability of his subordinates, to the valor and discipline of his 
troops, to the character of his adversary, and finally, to those apparent 
freaks of chance which neither he nor his opponent could foresee or 
regulate. In considering the campaigns of the most distingushed 
commanders we frequently find them decided by events which no 
sagacity could forecast or avert. The sudden swelling of a stream — 
the stumbling of a horse — the breaking of a wheel — the course of a 
single bullet — is often the pivot upon which a battle hinges and a 
continent changes front. Sometimes the wisest dispositions come 
to grief; sometimes the most silly result in victory. 

Frederick the Great ran away from his first battle and hid in a 
mill — only to learn, a few hours later, that a tenacious subordinate 
had clung to the field and changed its fortunes. Thus beginning his 
career, " covered with glory and corn meal," he became that Fred- 
erick whose genius shone so resplendently throughout the Seven 
Years "War, who founded the military power of Prussia, and who 
Napoleon declared was a super-excellent tactician, and "the most 
intrepid, most tenacious, and coolest of men." 

*St. Pierre. 



21 

Napoleon maintained at St. Helena that had not the Russian winter 
been more severe than for many years, he would have held Moscow 
and been master of the world ; and in the single struggle at Waterloo 
how often does fate seem to defy science, and destiny sport with 
genius ! But for the heavy rain the night before, which soddened 
the soil and prevented Napoleon from attacking at day light; but for 
Ney's sending the false intelligence that he had already occupied 
Quatre Bras; but for the sunken and unseen road of Chain, which 
swallowed up the French squadrons ; but for the accidental peasant 
that guided Bulow on the right road ; but for the treacherous guide 
that deceived the Emperor ; but for Grouchy's deafness, which pre- 
vented his hearing the guns of Waterloo at Wavres ; but for the mis- 
carriage of the order sent him to hurry up ; but for the Emperor's 
indisposition on that day — Napoleon had been Czar of Europe — 
England a province — and the "drama of the world essentially varied 
in all its subsequent scenes." And see how fate thus conspiring 
against him seems to waver in his arms. At four o'clock Welling- 
ton's right wing is bent back on his centre ; Napoleon's glass sweeps 
over the field ; a flash of triumph lights his eye ; a conquered world 
looms up through the smoke ; he posts a courier to Paris to say 
" Waterloo is won." At dark a bewildered, haggard, ruined man is 
found by his friends on a field near Genappe — a discrowned ruler — a 
waif of fortune — an imperial fugitive.* 

Thus we find the dominion of military glory divided between two 
monarchs, Skill and Chance — each at times seeming to have absolute 
sway. No concatenation of favorable circumstances could have pro- 
duced an Illiad or an Odyssey, an Ivanhoe or a Hamlet, a code of 
laws or a steam engine, a picture, or a statue. Apples had fallen 
for centuries — to none but a Newton did they suggest the theory that 
governs the universe ; to none but a Galileo did the vibration of a 
chandelier suggest the uses of the pendulum ; it was reserved for a 
Watts to divine the powers of steam from a kettle boiling on a hearth ; 
and for a Franklin to catch the lightnings with a school-boy's toy. 
Genius alone can win victories in the fields of Literature and Art 
and Science ; but on the field of Mars, Genius seems as often the 
slave chained to the car of fortune, as the master holding the reins 
in his hands. 

Nor are the results of battles as capable of being as closely 

"Victor lingo: Cosette. 



22 

examined as the results of" other struggles, and eflForts. You may 
read a book over, and over again, carefully subjecting its pretentions 
to the most searching tests ; you may spend hours and days gazing 
at the picture or the statue, until all the elements of form, color, atti- 
tude, and expression have passed in review before a rigid deliberation. 
But the battle is the thing of the past; no magic wand can reproduce 
it before you. A mass of conflicting reports meets you, from which 
the mind can no more reconstruct it than it can conceive the beauti- 
ful proportions of a Grecian temple by looking upon a vast heap of 
rent arches and broken columns. The marks of convulsion are all 
that is left of it; a moment in which earthquake and thunderstorm 
seemed to riot together amidst smoke, dust, shouts, blood, groans, has 
gone, never to return. 

Unwilling to patiently untie the knotty mass of facts, the multi- 
tude generally cut through it, and say "let success decide for us." 
" Nothing succeeds like success," was the pithy exclamation of Talley- 
rand, and we are too often misled by that coquettish nymph, 

"To give to dust that is a little o'er gilt 
More laud than gilt o'er dusted." 

"When the Knight of the olden time was knighted, it was with the 
warning injunction to be " faithful, bold and fortunate,^^ and "Exitus 
acta probat" was the inexorable motto by which his deeds were rated 

National gratitude and vanity are generally too warm for the forma- 
tion of cool impartial judgment. 

A country in praising its hero, praises itself; its glory and his are 
one, and it is impossible for it to view with any but partial feelings 
one whose name is united with victory, and to whom, perhaps, its 
existence is due. Whether or not he won by real merit, or might 
have won in half the time, with half the expense, with half as great 
a loss of men — it does not enquire. He did win ! enough ! He shall 
be glorified. 

The Northern masses do not remember that Grant poured out 
blood and treasure in a battle as freely as he would pour out whiskey 
and water into a cocktail. They do not reflect that any other common- 
place piece of stolidity could have done as well with a people as 
lavish of money, and a soldiery as lavish of blood. They join him 
in quaffing the intoxicating draught of victory to the health of Uncle 
Sam — they see not that there is death in the cup ! 

Our own people were not guiltless of the idolatry of victory. 



23 

They abused Sidney Johnston before Shiloh ; they wept for him 
afterwards. 

The manifold difficulties in the way of judgment led Marshal 
Saxe, the Hero of Fontenoy, to declare, " Toutes les Sciences out des 
prmcipes, la guerre seule n'eii point encored But to admit such an 
opinion is to give way to skepticism. A greater than he (Napoleon) 
tells us, that " all the great Captains of antiquity, and those who in 
modern times have successfully retraced their footsteps, performed 
vast achievements only by conforming with the rules and principles 
of art; that is to say, by correct combinations, and by justly com- 
paring the relations between means and consequences, efforts and 
obstacles." Closely scanning the history of the campaigns and bat- 
tles in which Jackson took part, we shall find, we think, that his 
success was due to an observance of the principles of art, skillfully 
adapted to the country he fought in, the troops he commanded, the 
enemy he opposed, and the cause he fought for — in short, by the 
means to his hand and the obstacles to be encountered. 



While alluding to Jackson's other military performances in brief 
terms, we shall examine his course with critical minuteness only in 
the first battle of Manassas, and in the Valley campaign of 1862. In 
the first we see him as a great soldier acting under orders ; in the 
latter he appears as a great G-eneral, depending only upon himself. 

The morning of the 21st of July, 1861, beheld the Northern and 
Southern Armies confronting each other with only the narrow stream 
of Bull Run dividing them. Along that stream the army of General 
Beauregard was posted in eight brigades, covering the various fords 
between Union Mills on the right flank, and Stone Bridge on the left 
— a distance of five miles. Ewell was at Union Mills with his 
brigade ; Jones at McLean's Ford above ) Longstreet next at Black- 
burn's ; then Bonham at Mitchell's ; Cocke three miles higher at 
Ball's; while Evans, with eight companies of his own regiment and 
Wheat's battalion, stood guard at Stone Bridge. General Johnston 
had already joined General Beauregard with about half of the Army 
of the Shenandoah from Winchester, including Jackson's brigade ; 
the rest were on the way. Impatient lest Patterson, who had cigh- 



24 

teen thousand men with him on the upper Potomac, should unite 
with McDowell before the coming battle, the Southern Generals had 
determined to attack the enemy at day. 

But during the night the rumble of artillery wheels gave intima- 
tions that the enemy were in motion, and at dawn the boom of a heavy 
gun opposite our left at Stone Bridge announced that McDowell was 
manoeuvering for battle; and the remainder of our troops not having 
arrived, the Southern Generals determined to await developments. 
About half past eight o'clock it was discovered that the enemy had 
made a wide detour, crossed Bull Run two miles above Stone Bridge, 
and were bearing down on our left flank. With soldierly instinct. 
Colonel Evans, with 800 men of his little force of 1,100 Carolinians 
and Louisianians and two guns of Latham's battery, moved to meet 
this column, and formed his line at the intersection of the Warrenton 
turnpike and the Sudley road, some twelve hundred yards west of the 
" Henry Hill," which famous spot is a few hundred yards to the 
south-east and rear of Stone Bridge. He there met and sustained 
himself " with skill and unshrinking courage"* against Burnside's 
brigade, 3,500 strong, which force was a mere curtain to the march 
of 30,000 men, led by McDowell himself, who were making a still 
wider circuit to our rear. General Bee, with the seventh and eighth 
Georgia regiments, the fourth Alabama, the second and two com- 
panies of the eleventh Mississippi, were sent to support Evans, 
and joining him, they held the enemy at bay, until, outflanked and 
pressed back by dense masses of the enemy, they were forced to retire 
to the Henry Hill. They were supported in their retreat by the arrival 
of Hampton's legion, but were followed up rapidly by Heintzlemaij's 
and Hunter's divisions. Key's and Sherman's brigades, and more than 
twenty pieces of light artillery. 

General Beauregard had, immediately upon discovering General 
McDowell's flank movement, ordered his right wing to advance and 
make a counter attack; but at 11 o'clock, being informed that his 
order had miscarried, he resolved to meet the enemy on the left, and 
we now find the columns of both armies drifting toward the vortex of 
the fiery maelstrom, just commencing to boil on the Henry Hill. 

Early in the morning General Jackson had been placed in the rear 
of Generals Cocke and Bonham in order to support either as occasion 
might require. At 10 o'clock he had been requested to replace 



*Joliu»toii's Boport, p. 9. 



25 

Evans at Stone Bridge, but as he moved to do so, heavy firing in the 
direction of that officer's new position attracted him ; and without 
waiting for orders he turned his brigade instantly towards it, sent 
word to Bee and Evans that he was coming, and pushed forward with 
all possible speed. As his column approached the Henry Hill, the 
fugitives from the lines of Evans, Bee and Hampton were pouring 
from it, telling the fugitive's story, not then understood, " they are 
all cut to pieces ;" then came the hobbling and mangled wounded — a 
seeming verification — while ahead the Hill spouted smoke and flame 
like a volcano. Amidst such scenes the Virginians moved steadily, 
with nonchalance and gaiety, joking each other, and picking the ripe 
blackberries by the way. Jacklon at once formed his line under the 
crest of the hill, with Imboden's, Stanard's, and Pendleton's bat- 
teries, twelve guns in all, along his front. The remnants of Bee's, 
Evans' and Hampton's men rallied on his right, but our line was 
barely established when the enemy, who had massed their troops 
upon the hill and concentrated upon it the fire of twenty-four guns, 
moved forward in a compact mass, got a foothold at the Henry and 
Kobinson houses, crowned the crest with infantry and cannon, and 
poured into our bosoms a tempest of shot and shell and bullets. 

How fitly has it been said that two armies are two wrestlers !* For 
this little spot of earth the stalwart North and the lithe, active South 
joined in a death struggle. Within one hundred yards of each 
other, the opposing batteries blew their hot breath into each other's 
faces ! Every clump of pines, every ditch, every fence sent forth 
from unseen hands its hissing missiles — the lines writhed, like waves 
of seething, red hot lava. During all this Jackson kept his brigade 
lying down, taking the fire but not returning it; but never dis- 
mounting from his horse himself, he moved everywhere — an ubiqui- 
tous, invulnerable spirit — now directing his gunners, now cheering 
his infantry. At three o'clock the Federals were gaining ground. 
Johnston and Beauregard had come — the crisis of the day had come 
— but our reinforcements — had not come ! At this time a shell 
exploded a caisson of Pendleton's battery, and many horses, breaking 
their traces, dashed wildly away amidst panic-stricken fugitives. 
Another shell burst right in the ranks of the fourth and twenty- 
seventh Carolina regiments, which were formed in double line behind 
the battery, killing eight men, and horribly mutilating many others. 

*Victor Hugo : Cosette. 
D 



26 

Simultaneously, Bee's, Evans' and Hampton's exhausted lines on the 
right gave way, and the exultant enemy with fresh batteries and 
regiments rushed over the crest, and seemed about to crush and 
envelope Jackson's brigade. Bee — his face darkening with the gloom 
of despair — galloped up to Jackson, and exclaimed: " General, they 
are beating us back I" Jackson would not be beaten back. He 
answered : " Then, sir, we will give them the bayonet !" Bee turned 
to the little squad that still clustered around him, seized a banner, 
and shouted to them : "There stands Jackson like a stonewall ! Rally 
behind the Virginians ! Let us determine to die here, and we will 

r conquer I" Jackson rode rapidly along the front of his men : 
" Reserve your fire until you are close to them ! Rise and charga- 
them!"/ It was Wellington at Waterloo: "Up Guards and at 
them !/ It was answered likewise. The stonewall had been melted 
as by electricity into a wave of fire — it rolled into the enemy's centre, 
consuming battery and line ; the hill was cleared, the victory was 
ours ; the artillery captured ; the infantry scattered ; the back of the 
anaconda was broken ! The enemy reformed afterwards, but too 
late ; for reinforcements had reached us, and soon striking the inco- 
herent mass it dissolved before them, and the rest of the battle of 
Manassas is a flight from ruin.* 






* This account of the part taken by Jackson at Manassas does not concur 
with the official reports or some of the histories. General Beauregard's 
Report page 31, says that at two o'clock, he gave the order for the right of 
the line contending for the Henry Hill to advance. To the forces which 
had been engaged previously, there had been added only the eighth and 
forty-ninth Virginia Regiments, the second Mississippi, and the sixth North 
Carolina. He adds : "It was done with uncommon resolution and vigor, 
and, at the same time, Jackson Brigade pierced the enemy's centre with the 
determination and the spirit of men who fight for a sacred cause ; but it 
suffered seriously." General B. states that the enemy rallied soon however, 
" recovered their ground and guns, and renewed the offensive." 

In the latter assertion, I am satisfied from recollection, and from concur- 
rent opinions of others there, that he is mistaken. The Henry Hill was 
never regained after Jackson carried it. General Beauregard says at about 
three o'clock he ordered a second effort to carry the Hill — that the attack 
was general, and the whole ground swept clear of the enemy, and the 
plateau around the Henry and Robinson houses finally in our possession. 
In this last attack all the additional regiments that had reached the field, 
participated, and Smith and Early, arriving on the enemy's left and rear 
just after it, followed up and secured its fruits. 

The Robinson house, which is three hundred yards north of the Henry 
Hill, may have changed hands as often as General B. states, and doubtless 



27 

The great Conde said of William of Orange, after the bloody day 
of SenefF, that he bore himself in all respects like an old General, 
except in exposing himself like a young soldier. With a musket 
ball in one hand and the blood streaming over his cuirass, he would 
press into the very thickest of the fray, mindful only of victory. 

The remark is literally and entirely applicable to Jackson at 
Manassas. He had shown the cool judgment of an old General in 
going to sustain an important point without orders ; in forming his 
brigade deliberately under fire, and giving it time to rest before 
charging; in holding it in check for two hours until he saw that the 
moment for action had arrived ; in embracing that moment without 
hesitation, and animating all to improve it. Pierced through the 
hand with a bullet during the fight, he had not paused for a moment 
even to bind the wound, but with all the enthusiasm of a young 
soldier he had been everywhere that the battle raged hottest, inspir- 
ing the weak-hearted and strengthening the strong with his presence. 
His brigade had been worthy of its commander. It had marched 
forty miles in less than twenty-four hours to get to the battle-field ; 
after a short rest it had been double-quicked into fire ; it had with- 
stood fire for two hours without returning it, and it had lost five hun- 
dred out of its twenty-five hundred brave men. But it had won an 
imperishable name. Bee, inspired by its commander, had baptized it 
with his last words in immortality. It stands in history as the 
" Stonewall Brigade," and the storms of ages will beat in vain against 
that heroic rock of the battle ocean, which dashed into spray so often 
the waves of federal fire. 



After the battle General Jackson ardently desired to push the 
enemy and essay the capture of Washington, but the Confederate 
Generals Johnston and Beauregard concluded to do nothing, and 
there was inaugurated that fatal policy of inactivity which had its 
sequel at Appomattox Court-House. General Jackson was not called 



did — but the Henry House remained in our hiands after being taken. Per- 
haps this error arose from the fact that before the charge of Jackson's 
Brigade, one of his regiments, the 33d, captured but quickly relinquished 
a battery which ventured near a thicket in which it was lying. 

Dr. Dabney does not notice this statement of Beauregard, hut his account 
concurs with mine. 



28 

upon to express his opinion in a council of war, nor were the other 
subordinate generals; but he could not restrain the expression of his 
desire from his immediate companions, and it was in accordance with 
the policy which characterized his entire career. 

McDowell's army was not only beaten — it was routed ; and our 
losses had not impaired the efficiency of our troops. General John- 
ston has attempted to excuse himself in a communication published 
since the war, in which he says : " The substantial fruit of this victory 
was the preservation of the Confederacy. No more could have been 
hoped for. The pursuit of the enemy was not continued because our 
cavalry (a very small force) was driven back by the 'solid resistance' 
of the United States infantry. Its rear guard was an entire division, 
which had not been engaged, and was twelve or fifteen times more 
numerous than our two little bodies of cavalry. The infantry was 
not required to continue the pursuit, because it would have been 
harassing it to no purpose. It is well known that infantry, unencum- 
bered by baggage trains, can easily escape pursuing cavalry."* 

This apology is not in keeping with the usual candid good sense of 
General Johnston. The rear guard he speaks of was Miles' division, 
10,000 strong, which had during the day held the ridge between 
Centreville and Blackburn's Ford, (Longstreet's position,) and which 
had withdrawn to the heights of Centreville to cover the retreat of 
McDowell. It there drew up in line of battle, only five miles from 
our right wing, and its "solid resistance" consisted in its firing at a 
handfuU of cavalry which reconnoitered it. How can General John- 
ston say "solid resistance," when he confesses at the same time that 
he did not send his infantry to test it? He stated with equal disin- 
ecenuousness to Mr. Swinton that "in our condition pursuit could not 
be thought of; for we were almost as much disorganized by our vic- 
tory as the Federals by their defeat."-]- This is not true. Our army 
was in admirable condition and spirit to follow. On the morning of 
July 21st General Beauregard had 21,833 effective men and twenty- 
nine cannon, and 6,000 bayonets and twenty guns of Johnston's 
army had arrived. | Two thousand infantry under Smith and Elzey 
had arrived during the fight, and we had, therefore, at the end of the 
day, 29,833 men, and forty-nine pieces of artillery on the field. Com- 
paratively, a small proportion had been engaged. General Johnston 

*Alfrieud's Life of Jefferson Davis. 

f Swinton : Army of the Potomac, p. 59. 

JBoaurcganVs Report : Reports of Manassas, p. 11. 



29 

says in his report: "The admirable character of our troops is incon- 
tcstibly proved by the result of this battle ; especially ichen it is 
remembered that little more than G,000 men of the Army of the 
Shenandoah, with sixteen guns, and less than 2,000 of that of the 
Potomac, with six guns, for full five hours successfully resisted 
35,000 United States troops, with a powerful artillery and a superior 
force of regular cavalry. Our forces engaged, gradually increasing 
during the remainder of the contest, amounted to but at the 

close of the battle." The blank might be filled by 10,000; for the 
increase consisted in 2,000 under Smith and Elzey, and a few regi- 
ments of Beauregard's army, not exceeding 2,000 more. We had, 
therefore, (nearly) 20,000 fresh troops lying idle within five miles 
of this " solid resistance" — troops, too, who had not marched or been 
taxed by any arduous -service, and had nothing to demoralize them. 
The Federal writers are of course prompt to adopt General John- 
ston's theory, as the demoralization imputed to our troops is compli- 
mentary to the fight their own had made, and palliates their 
demoralization afterwards. But the proof that we were not demor- 
alized to any very considerable extent is almost as strong as the proof 
that they were. Says General McDowell in his report : " The retreat 
soon became a rout, and this presently degenerated into a panic." 
The extent of that panic has become a matter of world-wide noto- 
riety. There can be no question as to the success of our army if it 
had pushed on ; the only question is what was the proper course for 
our generals under the lights before them. That the Federal army 
had been terribly beaten was evident. One thousand four hundred 
and sixty prisoners remained in our hands, twenty-eight pieces of 
artillery, over five thousand muskets, and the field itself bore testi- 
mony of a rout. Under these circumstances, we should have at 
least pressed forward and tested the so-called " solidity" of that 
resistance, which consisted in firing a few guns at a reconnoitering 
body of cavalry. It was not and could not have been expected that 
a handfull of cavalry could break an infantry division, and no serious 
attack was made; but if our 20,000 fresh infantry and our fifty 
pieces of artillery had been hurled against it, who can doubt but that 
it would have been brushed away like a cobweb. No one could have 
blamed Johnston had he attacked the rear guard and found it imprac- 
ticable to destroy it; but he is greatly to be blamed for making no 
effort. The apprehension that Patterson would soon join McDowell 
ought only to have accelerated Johnston to complete the destruction 



30 

of the latter before his arrival. Even had he arrived the united 
force would not have exceeded 30,000 effectives, and no General of 
revolutionary spirit ought to have hesitated to attack them, weary 
and dispirited as they must have been, with 20,000 fresh men elated 
with victory. 

The joy of the South over what was done at Manassas, dulled its 
criticism at the loss of the opportunity to do more ; but a calm view of 
the question flash conviction upon the mind that Johnston and Beau- 
regard were lacking in the insight that recognizes, and the boldness 
that improves a lucky moment. " Opportunity," it has been said 
"has hair in front; behind she is bald; if you catch her by the fore- 
lock, you may hold her; but if suffered to escape Jupiter himself 
cannot catch her asrain." Such is the moral of Manassas. 



VIII 

During the winter of 1861, Jackson was appointed a Major- 
General and sent to the Valley of Virginia, and there in the spring 
of 1862 he led his army through that series of marches and actions 
which are known as "The Valley Campaign," and in which he 
seemed, like the J'abled Knight of Old Castile, to bear an enchanted 
lance which struck every enemy it aimed at, and struck only to 
conquer. 

A mere summary of the facts of the Valley Campaign is the best 
tribute to the ability of its hero. 

On the 9th of March, 1862, General J. E. Johnston fell back from 
Centreville where he had confronted General McClellan during the 
previous winter, and on the 11th inst. General Jackson fell back from 
Winchester before General Banks who was advancing with 35,000 
men; and halted at Mount Jackson on the "Valley pike" between 
Winchester and Staunton, and forty miles from the former town. On 
the 21st of the month he learned that Banks had detached 15,000 
men under General Sedgwick to join the army opposed to General 
Johnston in Eastern Virginia, and that the remainder, under General 
Shields, was moving up the pike against him lie instantly put his 
troops in motion. He marched 26 miles on the 22d inst., and 16 on 
the 23d, and that evening attacked Shields at Kernstown, a little 
hamlet three miles south of Winchester. Shields had 11,000 men 



31 

in action. Jackson had only 2,742 infantry, 18 pieces of cannon, 
and 290 cavalry. He did not drive the enemy from the field, but he 
accomplished his main object of recalling Sedgwick's column from 
its movement against General Johnston, crippled the enemy severely, 
taught him a wholesome dread of the audacity and vehemence of his 
attacks. General Shields was left like Pyrrhus after Heraclea, to feel 
that another such victory would destroy him. He claimed that our 
sufferings were terrible, but added, with soldierly candor, '' yet such 
were their gallantry and high state of discipline that at no time 
during the battle or pursuit did they give way to panic."* The 
Southern people received the tidings of the battle with similar appre- 
ciation, and the Confederate Congress passed a resolution of thanks 
to Jackson and his soldiers for their gallant services. 

After the battle, Jackson retired to the vicinity of Harrisonburg, 
and the two armies lay quiescent until the 1st of May, on which day 
he received a reinforcement of General Ewell's division from the 
army of General Johnston which swelled his force to about 15,000 
men of all arms — and he now prepared to resume hostilities. 

Jackson was now menaced from two points. Banks confronted 
him from the north with 20,000 men, while Milroy, on the moun- 
tains west of Staunton, lay off on his left flank with 8,000 men, who 
were opposed by the single brigade of General Edward Johnson. 
Leaving Ewell to manage Banks, Jackson marched rapidly up the 
Valley, passed through Staunton, united with Edward Johnson, and 
on the 9th of May dispatched the result to Richmond : 

" God blessed our arms with victory at McDowell yesterday." 

Milroy retreated precipitously into West Virginia, and Jackson 
returned with his flying light infantry to renew his attentions to 
Banks. During the rest of May, he was continuously marching and 
fighting. On the 23d he drove Banks through Front Royal, and 
captured with little loss 700 prisoners and 2 cannon. On the 25th 
he pursued him through Winchester. On the 28th he dispersed his 
rear guard on the banks of the Potomac. On the 30th of May, 
having retired to the vicinity of Winchester, he had reason to appre- 
hend that Fremont, from the northwest was endeavoring, with a large 
force, to gain his rear near Strasburg. Moving at noon that day, he 
reached Strasburg the next, having marched the astonishing distance 
of fifty miles in 40 hours, with an army encumbered by 1 ,500 wagons, 
more than 50 artillery carriages, and 2,300 prisoners. 

* Shields' Report. 



3^ 

Within tweuty-two days he had marched over 350 miles, fought 
two battles and six combats; with only 12,000 men, had defeated two 
armies aggregating 30,000 men, had captured 3,000 prisoners, 1,000 
stand of arms; had supplied his medical and ordnance trains, and 
fed and clothed his hungry and naked troops on captured stores ; 
had lost only 68 killed, 329 wounded, and 3 missing, and had finally 
extricated himself and his spoils from a dangci-ous position. 

None can doubt that men capable of such marches were as worthy 
of the soubriquet of "foot cavalry" as when at bay they deserved 
to be called "a stonewall :" and well might their general have told them, 
as Napoleon told the Army of Italy, that he had rather gain victories 
at the expense of their legs than their blood. 

These are pregnant facts, though not exhibited in a critical arrange- 
ment. Cross Keys and Port Republic, the twin battles on the Shen- 
andoah, remain to be recounted as the fit climax to terminate the 
Valley campaign, as the broad and solid but delicately wrought 
Corinthian capital crowns the stately marble column. 

To appreciate them it is necessary to glance at the topographical 
features of the country adjacent, and the relation of Jackson's army 
to the Army ^of Northern Virginia which under Lee was guarding 
Richmond. 

A glance at the map will show that the operations of all the armies 
in eastern Virginia at this time were embraced within a parallelogram 
of which the Potomac from Williamsport to Washington was the 
northern, and the Central Railroad between Staunton and Richmond 
the southern side; the Valley pike, a broad paved highway from 
Williamsport to Staunton, the western, and the Richmond and Fred- 
ericksburg Railroad and the Potomac river, uniting Richmond and 
Washington, the eastern side. Jackson, it will thus be seen, while 
guarding the Central Railroad by his position in the Valley, had so to 
manoeuvre as to be able, in the event of a necessary retreat, to join 
his forces with the utmost rapidity with the main army of Lee at 
Richmond. 

Turning to the immediate scene of operations, we find him on the 
evening of the 1st of June at Strasburg with about 15,000 men. 
Fremont was immediately in front of him with 20,000 followers,* 



*The north and south forks of the Shenandoah unite at Front Royal, and 
the north fork crosses the Valley pike several times, but its course did not 
materially affect the campaign. 



33 

and Shields, with about 7,000, was at Front Royal, on his right flank, 
but separated from him by the north and south forks of the Shenan- 
doah river. On that evening Jackson commenced a retreat up the 
Valley pike, followed by Fremont, while Shields continued to move 
on the eastern side of the south fork of the Shenandoah, which flows 
parallel to the main pike. Had Shields and Fremont combined at 
once, their overwhelming numbers would have indeed presented a 
terrible head to Jackson, but a stream swollen by spring rains was 
between them, their pontoons had been destroyed in a retreat shortly 
previous, and Jackson's manoeuvres were all directed with a view of 
keeping them apart, and seizing any opportunity of taking advantage 
of their separation. Having succeeded in destroying the bridges on 
the south fork in the course of his retreat, we find him on the 6th of 
June as far up the Valley as Harrisonburg, closely pressed by Fre- 
mont; and on that day, while gallantly bringing up his rear guard, 
fell Ashby — that bright ideal of a soldier, in whose character were 
beautifully blended the romantic hues of chivalry with the solid 
virtues of a Southern patriot.* Even amidst the clash of arms the 
involuntary tear starts to the eye over his early grave : 

"Brief, brave and glorious was his young career — 
His mourners were two hosts, his friends and foes ; 
And fitly may the stranger lingering there 
Pray for his gallant spirit's bright repose — 
For he was Freedom's champion ; one of those. 
The few in number, who had not o'erstep't 
The charter to chastise which she bestows 
On such as wield her weapons. He had kept 
The whitness of his soul, and thus men o'er him wept." 

From Harrisonburg Jackson diverged eastward, and leaving Ewell 
with his division at " Cross Keys," a country cross roads nine miles 
distant, he moved five miles further on, and halted near the village of 



*Ashby was interred in the graveyard at the University of Virginia, but 
his remains were removed after the war to his mother's home in Fauquier, 
In his report, Jackson thus alluded to his untimely end: "An official report 
is not an appropriate place for more than a passing notice of the dis- 
tinguished dead ; but the close relation which General Ashby bore to ray 
command for most of the previous twelve months will justify me in saying 
that as a partizan officer I never knew his superior. His daring was pro- 
verbial ; his powers of endurance almost incredible ; his tone of character 
heroic, and his sagacity almost intuitive in divining the purposes and move- 
ments of the enemy."— Reports of the Army of Northern Virginia^ Vol. I, 
•page !J5. 

E 



34 

Port Republic, which nestles in the fork formed by the North and 
South rivers which there combine into the south branch of the Shen- 
andoah. The South river is there fordablc, but the North river could 
be crossed only by a bridge ; and remaining on the north-west side of 
that stream, Jackson awaited the movements of Fremont in that 
direction, and guarded the bridge from the approach of Shields from 
the north-east. Early* on the morning of Sunday, the 8th day of 
June, Jackson, with a few attendants, crossed the North river into 
Port Republic, and while there the vanguard of Shields made its 
appearance, and rushing rapidly across the ford of South river, cap- 
tured two of his staflE", and placed a piece of artillery at the southern 
end of the bridge. Thus cut off from his soldiers and surrounded by 
his enemies, Jackson was in a perilous quandary. But his ingenious 
audacity saved him. Galloping up to the commander of the gun at 
the bridge he exclaimed in a tone of authority : " Who told you to 
place this gun here, sir? Remove it instantly to yonder hill." Pre- 
suming him to be of course a Federal officer of rank, the artillerist 
obeyed his order promptly, and Jackson bounded over the bridge to 
his camps. Quickly getting his men under arms he hurried back to the 
bridge, leading the thirty-seventh Virginia regiment, the first to 
hand, and directing its charge, it swept over the bridge, and, losing 
but two men from the enemy's fire, captured the gun, an-d cleared the 
village of the adventurous advance guard which a moment before 
held the army at its mercy. This little affair had scarcely transpired 
when Shield's army appeared in force on the eastern side of the 
south fork of the Shenandoah, and at 10 o'clock, a. m., firing in the 
direction of Cross Keys announced that Fremont had come in contact 
with Ewell. Jackson's situation was critical in the extreme. His 
army, in two divisions, his own and Ewell's, aggregated a little over 
12,000 men, and two armies were now closing in upon him, and were 
within hearing of each other's guns. Crowning the hills on the 
north-east bank of the river at Port Republic with cannon, and making 
as great a show as his meagre forces could against Shields, he galloped 
at midday to Ewell's lines at Cross Keys and beheld him holding Fre- 
mont gallantly at bay. Returning quickly, he sent Ewell two brigades, 
Taylor's of Ewell's division, (which he had taken to strengthen him- 



*This story is told in the Life of Jackson, by an Ex-Cadet, and in Doo- 
lady's also. It is not mentioned in Dr. Dabney's or in Cooke's, and this 
fact may throw some doubt on its authenticity. It has been generally cir- 
culated, however, and I have never heard it contradicted. 



35 

self early ia the morning,) and Patton's, of his own, and with these 
additions the noble Ewell, who had already repulsed Fremont's 
attacks, advanced upon him, drove in his skirmish line, and keeping 
up a bold demonstration, intimidated him by an appearance of strength 
and desire for battle. Shields, bluffed during the day by Jackson's 
energetic preparations at Port Republic, had subsided into inactivity, 
and with matters in this attitude night closed. 

Jackson had so far thwarted the peril that hung over him, but it 
was still imminent, and in all probability would burst upon him on 
the morrow. To retreat was to leave Fremont and Shields to unite 
and follow him. To stand still was to permit them to crush him by 
sheer weight of numbers. He solved the problem by resolving to be 
himself the assailant. Causing a foot bridge of wagons to be con- 
structed during the night across the ford of the South river, he with- 
drew Ewell's division from Cross Keys, leaving only Patton's and 
Trimble's brigades to make a bold face before Fremont, and crossing 
the river early on the morning of the 9th, he attacked Shields with 
fury. The battle was hard fought, but he drove the Federals from 
the field and captured 450 prisoners and nine pieces of artillery. 
Sending his cavalry in pursuit of the beaten army, he withdrew 
Patton and Trimble from Fremont's front in the evening, destroyed 
the bridge over North river, and thus left Fremont to gnash his teeth 
in impotent rage while Shields fled in disaster. 

Jackson now retired to Brown's Gap, a few miles distant, from 
which point he could easily retreat into the interior if he found it 
necessary, or return as assailant. Fremont remained a day or two 
at Port Republic when hearing how Shields had been used up, he 
also retreated hastily down the valley, leaving his sick, wounded, and 
hospitals behind him, and Jackson to prepare for his brilliant march 
to assist Lee at Richmond. 

The campaign had much a deeper significance than appears from 
following its marches, and battles. The strokes of Jackson not only 
broke the limbs they fell upon, but shocked the whole system of 
hostile operations. 

On the 25th of May when he drove Banks through Winchester, 
McDowell's corps numbering forty-one thousand men, and one hun- 
dred cannon had advanced eight miles south of Fredricksburg on its 
way to join McClellan. who was then investing Richmond. McClel- 
land had thrown forward his right wing to Hanover Junction to meet 



36 

him, and they were but fifteen miles apart. The very next day they 
were to combine and assail Johnston with resistless numbers. But 
just then the news of Jackson's advance was flashed to Washington, 
McDowell was instantly recalled, and 20,000 of his men were hur- 
ried off to the Shenandoah Valley to stay the terrible hand of Jack- 
son.* The fairest and most reliable critic of the war observes "that 
without gaining a single tactical victory Jackson had yet achieved a 
great strategic victory, for by manoevering 15,000 men he had suc- 
ceeded in neutralizing a force of 60,000 men."-}- When he struck 
McClellan at Kichmond a month later, McDowell petrified by his 
name, laid motionless at Fredricksburg — afraid to uncover the front 
of Washington, and we may justly confirm the judgment of the same 
critic that " it is perhaps not too much to say he saved Richmond." 

I once heard an officer ask General Ewell what he thought of 
Jackson's generalship in this campaign. He replied in his brusque 
impetuous manner : " Well sir when he commenced it, I thought him 
crazy, before he ended it, I thought him inspired." The campaign 
was not one of large numbers, but its manceuvers were so rapid, so 
bold, so energetic, and so delicately calculated that they could only 
have, been executed by a master of the Art of War. Those who at 
its beginning thought its movements erratic, and called Jackson 
"crazy" soon found that there was a "method in his madness," like 
that of the Macedonian madman which brought order from chaos, 
and had its sequel in victory. 

Jackson had carved his way to enduring fame and the "Valley 



* For these facts see Swinton's Army of the Potomac p. 125-6. His com- 
ments are worth quoting "In vain General McClellan urged the real motion 
of the raid — to prevent reinforcements from reaching him. Deaf to all 
sounds of reason, the war-council at "Washington, like the Dutch States- 
General, of whom Prince Eugene said that "always interfering they were 
always dying with fear" heard only the reverberations of the guns of the 
redoubtable Jackson. To head off Jackson, if possible to catch Jackson, 
seemed now the one important thing ; and the result of the cogitations of 
the Washington strategists was the preparation of what the President 
called a "trap" for Jackson — a "trap" "for the wily fox who was master 
of every gap and gorge of the Valley !" 

We have seen already what became of the trap. 

f Mr. Swinton is as palpably mistaken in saying that Jackson had not 
gained a "single tactical victory" as General Johnston was (see ahead) in 
saying Jackson was not a great strategist. Port Republic and Cross-Keys 
beautifully combine the excellencies of tactical and strategic genius. 



37 

campaign" will be preserved in history as a model tor the military 
student to study, and a feat for mankind to admire.* 

"His schemes of war were sadden, unforseen — 
Inexplicable both to friend and foe ; 
It seems as if some momentary spleen 
Inspired the project and compelled the blow. 
And most his fortune and succcess were seen — 
With means the most inadequate and low ; 
Most master of himself and least encumbered, 
When overmatched, entangled and outnumbered." 



IX 

No general ever evinced a truer appreciation of the value of time 
in military operations, and in no war has time ever been so valuable 
an element as in that for Southern Independence. We fought against 
time. We had a limited quantity of ammunition ; we had the mini- 
mum quantity of food ; we had only a certain number of men. 
General Grant was glad to swap five men for one of Lee's; he could 
wait six months for a victory. An army or an hour lost with us was 
lost forever — with the Federals spring-time brought reinforcements 
and leisure. "I have observed," said Napoleon, "that it is the 
quarters of hours that decide the fate of battles." Jackson never 
lost time ! He struck the enemy to-day — he did not wait for him to 
rest and reconstruct to-morrow — he followed him and struck him 
again while stunned, sore and exhausted. The old fogies, and the 
red-tape men of the army swore he was crazy when he was marching 
to Romney after the Yankees in the winter of 1861, while the 
Yankees themselves, and the rest of our own army were nestling so 
cosily in winter quarters — but he was seasoning his oak in winter to 
stand the storms of spring. The manner in which dulled stupidity 
talked of him then and at the beginning of the Valley Campaign, 
was very much in the strain of the old Hungarian officer who ridi- 
culed Napoleon's strategy after he had beaten the Austrians out of 
Italy. " Things are going on as ill, and as irregularly as possible," said 



* Dr. Dabney (p. 429) says "within forty days he had marched four hun- 
dred miles, fought four pitched battles — defeating four separate armies, 
with numerous combats and skirmishes, sent to the rear three thousand 
five-hundred prisoners, killed and wounded a still larger number of the 
enemy, and defeated or neutralized forces three times as numerous as his 
own," 



38 

the old Martinet. "The French have got a young general who 
knows nothing of the regular rules of war; he is sometimes in our 
front, sometimes on our flank, sometimes on the rear. There is no 
supporting such a gross violation of the rules,"* And this, as Scott 
observes, somewhat resembles the charge that foreign tacticians have 
brought against the English that they gained victories by continuing, 
with their insular ignorance and obstinacy, to fight on long after the 
period when, if they had known the rules of war, they ought to 
have considered themselves as completely defeated. Jackson was 
like the young French general when he attacked ; he was like the 
obstinate Englishmen when he stood at bay. 

On the front, on the flank, on the rear of the Yankees — he seemed 
often to happen at the very point where they least expected to find 
him, and often to fly from point to point so fiist that like a moving 
brand he made around them a circle of fire. His infantry was called 
by the army "Jackson's foot cavalry," and " the foot cavalrymen" 
jestingly declared that he was greater than Moses. "Moses," they 
said, "took forty years to lead the Israelites through the Wilderness 
with manna to feed them on ; old Jackson would have double-quicked 
through it on half rations in three days." A wag sent him a letter 
addressed, " Stone W. Jackson, Esqr., somewhere or somewhere else." 

Prompt selection of the point to aim it, all the energies roused up 
to hit it, not an instant's hesitation as to striking, and striking 
again — we see in every action. After the battle of Manassas, while 
our other generals were talking about rations for the men, and about 
the "solid resistance" of one division of United States infantry at 
Centreville, Jackson was in favor of pushing on to Washington at 
once — only thirty miles off, knowing very well that there was plenty 
of rations there, and that the resistance of that infantry would not 
be less solid when Patterson's 18,000 had strengthened it, and when 
it had recovered from the dismay produced by a routed army fleeing 
through and all around it. He always followed up his victories in 
the Valley, for there was no superior ofiicer there to prevent him. 
He was in favor of pursuing McClellan when he was cowering under 
his gunboats at Harrison's Landing. He was in favor of crushing 
Burnside when we had him under our heel on the banks of the Eap- 
pahannock. He attacked Hooker at Chancellorsville the instant our 
troops got into line of battle, and the last order which he ever gave 
on the field was "tell A. P. Hill to press right on." 

* Scott's Napoleon I, v. 318. 



39 

We liave heard some of our timid generals defended for not push- 
ing the enemy, on the ground that they held back out of regard for 
their men. We have only to answer that they had false and narrow 
views of what was best for their men. If they had concentrated 
their forces, made and followed up a vigorous, well sustained attack, 
and pressed every advantage they might have lost more fearfully 
during any given half hour, but they would have saved the terrible 
waste of prolonged campaigns and decimating camp diseases, and 
the oft-repeated losses of minor battles, and would not only have 
gained a field, but garnered up the fruits of victory. The fact is, 
that the terrific system of war which hurls masses of men upon one 
point — mass after mass, and is so often condemned as brutal, is the 
most humane in the end, because the most effective. Napoleons, 
CcGsars, Jacksons are not the spend-thrifts, but the wise economists 
of human life ; and those cautious and over-sensitive captains who 
are afraid to push the battle lest somebody be hurt, are mere misers, 
" penny-wise and pound-foolish " — they guard their treasure like the 
unfaithful steward by burying it in the ground, and rendering it in- 
capable of producing good either to themselves or others. 

The general should have tender feelings, but he should have a will 
capable of restraining them when to indulge them is ruin. "0 that 
I had time to weep " exclaims Napoleon in a note to a mother, after 
battle announcing that her son was slain, but it would have been not 
less a crime than a weakness for him to have paused to weep over 
one mother's son when thousands of others stood in peril, and depen- 
ded on him to shield them. 

Those military men who claim exoneration for failure on account 
of tender feelings, are on a par with surgeons who faint at the sight 
of blood. They have mistaken their calling, and only reveal their 
weak nerves and their weak heads. They play the hero like Bottom 
played the lion in Pyramus and Thisbe promising to modulate his 
voice in order not to frighten the ladies : " I will roar you gently as 
any sucking dove ; I will roar you gently an'twere any nightingale." 
Doves and nightingales are excellent things in their way ; but when 
we send for lions we prefer that they should bring their roar and 
their claws with them, and that they should not indulge themselves 
on the battle field in cooing and billing. Some of our military lions 
succeeded admirably in not frightening the ladies — or anybody else. 

Others of our generals apologized for not pursuing after battle on 
account of a lack of wagons, and bridges, and rations. That was 



40 

one of the excuses made after the first battle of Manassas. Jackson 
forded rivers, or improvised bridges, and did without wagons and 
rations until he caught the enemy and captured them. " What cre- 
ates difficulty," said Napoleon, " in the profession of the land com- 
mander is the necessity of feeding so many men and animals. If he 
allows himself to be guided by the commissaries he will never stir, 
and all his expeditions will fail." Whenever the majority of the gen- 
erals in the late war started on an expedition a commissary pulled 
them back by the coat tail. When Jackson started he kicked the 
commissary out of the way and went without him. 

His own cooks were like those of Alexander, a march before day 
to dress his dinner, a light dinner to prepare his supper — and as for 
supper, he took that next day ; and his troops fared like him. Vic- 
tory, however, was generally his commissary, and kept him well sup- 
plied from the enemy's camps. 

After Jackson had taken Harper's Ferry, he conversed with a 
group of captive officers. "Has McClellan a drove of cattle with 
him?" he asked. "Yes," was the reply — "a large one." "Well," 
said the General, "I can whip any army that travels with a drove of 
cattle" — alluding both to the sluggishness it necessitated on their 
part, and to the keen appetites of his men. General Banks was 
oftener spoken of as the commissary general of Jackson than as his 
adversary in the field. His trains had filled our haversacks so often 
that whenever the head of the column turned down the Valley, the 
jest ran along the lines : "Lee is out of rations again, and Jackson 
is detailed to call on the commissary general." 



X 

Plain common sense, moral courage, and decision of character, 
" the will to do, the soul to dare," were the germs of all Jackson's 
great deeds. His will was never surpassed. As a mere pulp of 
paper can be driven through oaken plank when a powerful combusti- 
ble is exploded behind it, so may an ordinary mind penetrate the 
most unyielding obstacles when propelled by a powerful determina- 
tion ; while in an infants hand the most terrible projectile becomes 
only a dangerous toy. 

An English essayist, Foster, tells us of a father who had two sons, 
both of whom had been condemned to die for some capital crime. The 



41 

king of their country in pity for the old man sent him word that one 
of his sons should be spared, and that he must make the selection 
within a certain hour. The old man first thought of the talents of 
one son, and then of the graces and affection of the other, preferring 
each as his virtues arose before his mind, but unable to decide 
between them ; and thus in an agony of suspense and hesitation, the 
hour went by and he was roused from deliberation by the announce- 
ment that the law had been enforced, and both were dead. We 
could recall several instances during the late war, in which com- 
manding generals acted with similar weakness. When they were 
approached by columns in different directions, instead of instantly 
striking one, they stood in painful trepidation between the two — now 
calculating the chances of defeating one, now reconnoitering and 
faintly skirmishing with the other. In a short time the two united, 
and they were then either beaten by largely superior numbers, or 
forced to make a " masterly retreat " under hot pressure, and write 
an elaborate official report to show that they had abandoned the field 
in strict accordance with the art of war. Thus it is with the indeci- 
sive man. He deliberates when the time for deliberation is past, and 
when any decisive action is better than none. The opportunity is 
gone forever, and no expenditure of treasure or blood, and no 
resource of genius can restore it. In such emergencies Jackson's 
mind quickly formed a plan, and roused up all its energies for its 
execution — and then came into play that sublime courage which like 
Cassar's, was twin-born with danger, and taught danger that it was 
more dangerous than he. 

Mere physical courage is a common quality. The gentleman is 
brave from instinct, and the hireling from fear of his officer. In the 
South especially, personal daring is so general a characteristic, that the 
lack of it was exceptional, and every field of the late war was illus- 
trated by astonishing feats of valor which did not attract the atten- 
tion they deserved, because it was impossible to make discrimina- 
tions and they were really " too numerous to mention." And in many 
cases if any fault could be found with our troops, it was that fear- 
lessness degenerated into recklessness, and the hot-blooded South- 
erner became 

"More brave than firm, and more inclined to dare 
And die at once — than wrestle with despair." 

But the courage which does not shrink from responsibility, and 
r 



42 

remains self-poised and imperturbable under sudden dangers is 
amongst all peoples a rare personal characteristic. 

"As to moral courage," said Napoleon, "I have rarely met with the 
two o'clock in the morning kind. I mean unprepared courage, that 
which is necessary to an unexpected occasion, and which in spite of 
unforeseen events leaves full freedom of judgment and decision." 
That two o'clock in the morning courage existed in Jackson to per- 
fection. He never lost the "full freedom of judgment and decision,"* 
but himself declared that "he was conscious of a mere perfect com- 
mand of all his faculties when under fire than at any other time," 
and his whole career is filled with striking illustrations of that self- 
possession which calmly met the most startling and perilous emer- 
gencies, and disposed of them with easy and decisive promptitude. 
It shone at Manassas, at Kernstown, at Fort Republic — it shone 
everywhere. When others lost faith he stood firm in a faith that 
removed mountains; when lines were broken, plans disorganized, 
resources of skill were exhausted, and the fugitives' wild cry, "all is 
lost," arose over a mangled and bleeding field — still with lip firm, 
with eye fixed, he clung to his post with the tenacity of destiny until 
reilnimated by his example cowards became men, men became heroes, 
and heroes seemed to tower into demigods — and victory was plucked 
from the gulf of despair. 

/In point of talent Jackson was surpassed by many of the generals 
who fought with and against him. He was inferior to Johnston in 
intellectual power and in ability for laying complicated and far- 
reaching schemes. His mind was not so broad and capacious as 
■ Lee's. He was not so scientific as Beauregard, or so variously 
accomplished as McClellan. He had not the mental vigor or scope of 
Early. But he more happily combined than any the cool audacity, 
the imperturbable resolution, and the wonderful earnestness which 
struck a terror into his enemy's hearts that half conquered them 
before battle, and an enthusiasm into his soldiers which made them 
irresistible. This balance of common sense and courage is worth all 
other qualities whatsoever) Napoleon, discoursing on the requisites of 
a military commander, remarks : "We rarely find combined together 
all the qualities requisite to constitute a great general. The object 
most desirable is that a man's judgment should be in equilibrium 
with his physical character or courage. This is what we may call 

*Dabnoy, 1). 02. 



43 

being squared both by base and perpendicular. If courage be in the 
ascendency, a general will rashly undertake that which he cannot 
execute ; on the contrary, if his character or courage be inferior to 
his judgment he will not venture to carry any fiieasure into effect. 
The sole merit of the Viceroy Eugene consisted in this equilibrum. 
This, however, was sufficient to render him a very distinguished 
man." We readily recognize this equilibrium in Jackson. He 
retreated from Kernstown. He advanced to McDowell. He had 
the precaution to retire from Winchester, and the audacity to assail 
at Cross Keys and Manassas. He cautiously vacated Pope's front at 
Cedar Mountain, and with boldness bordering on rashness he hung 
upon his rear at Manassas, and charged Hooker in reverse at Chan- 
cellorsville. His actions were the exemplication of the inscription 
on the gates of the ancient city : " Be bold ! Be evermore bold ! 
Be not too hold r^ 

Lord Macaulay expressed in different language the same idea 
expressed by Napoleon : " An unlearned person," he says, "would be 
inclined to suspect that the military art is no very profound mystery ; 
that its principles are principles of plain good sense ; and that a 
quick eye, a cool head, and a stout heart do more to make a General 
than all the diagrams of Jomini."* So we have the greatest of 
generals and the best of critics on a common platform. The truth 
is, the faculty for commanding men, and for leading enterprises "of 
great pith and moment" is barely akin to those brilliant talents which 
shine in devising theories for others to execute, or executing those 
which have been devised for them. Many a learned and eloquent 
barrister who can wring tears and verdicts from jurymen, becomes a 
worthless pedagogue when elevated to the responsibility of the bench. 
Many an ingenious diplomatist who exposes the folly of cabinets and 
parliaments, becomes irresolute and impracticable when made prime 
minister and told to inaugurate a policy of his own. And many a 
highly educated and intelligent officer, who would storm a fort gal- 
lantly, and who has all the theories of tactics, strategy, fortification, 
and engineering at his fingers' ends, sinks into confusion and helpless- 
ness when the destinies of an army are placed in his keeping and the 
boom of cannon tells him that the hour of trial is at hand. 

The man of knowledge and the man of action are of an entirely 
different mould. Knowledge is invaluable in directing action, but 



•'Artirlo on IlamiKlcn : Essays, ji. 169. 



44 

common sense availing itself of the knowledge of others is an 
excellent substitute ; while on the other hand knowledge, unless set 
on fire by action, is nothing more than so much powder stored away 
in a magazine. The difference between the learned plodder and the 
gifted man of action was admirably illustrated by John Randolph, of 
Roanoke, in the fable of the huntsman and the caterpillar, which has 
a savor of real ^sopian salt. A caterpillar comes to a fence ; he 
crawls to the bottom of the ditch and over the fence — some one of 
his hundred feet always in contact with the object upon which he 
moves. A gallant horseman, at a flying leap, clears both ditch and 
fence. "Stop," says the caterpillar, "you are too flighty — you want 
connection and continuity; it took me an hour to get over; you 
can't be as sure as I am, who have never quitted the subject, that 
you have overcome the difliculty and are fairly over the fence." 
"Thou miserable reptile," replies the huntsman, "if like you I 
crawled over the earth slowly and painfully, should I ever catch a 
fox or be anything more than a wretched caterpillar ?" The learned 
caterpillars of the war when they approached an obstacle generally 
wasted two or three days in reconnoiteriug it, and their skirmishers, 
like so many hundred feet, felt the position with the utmost caution. 
After the enemy had entirely recovered from surprise and had fully 
fortified and prepared for them, they crawled up to the attack with 
elaborate dullness, and after getting a good threshing made a " master- 
ly retreat." They never caught a federal fox, and despite their 
excellent ofiicial reports were never anything but wretched cater- 
pillars. Jackson comes with his army like a gallant huntsman on a 
well-bred hunter, and the ear of the startled picket had scarcely 
caught the clatter of a hoof, or the yelp of the hound, ere he and 
his pack of hungry, ragged, cheering rebels was upon them. ( The 
enemy began to fear him as the fox the bloodhound.j In his very 
name they scented a portent of danger and heard a presage of victory. 
The French nurses, we are told, frightened their children with 
stories of " Marlbrook," and the Orientals, when their horses started, 
imagined that they saw the shadow of Richard Cocur de Leon crossing 
tlieir path.* The Yankees, when they heard the ominous words : 
HjTackson is moving,'/ felt the dread instinct of a mysterious 
danger, which only warned with fatal blows, and hied away to their 
fortifications. 

^•Alison's Marlboroiigh. 



45 

It cannot with any propriety be said that "luck" was the cause of 
Jackson's successes. They were not the fruits of a single victory, or 
of one campaign, or of favorable circumstances; but of vigorous 
campaigns following in swift succession and won through desperate 
battles, terrible obstacles, and a wide variety of hazardous adventures. 
The true test of a general, Napoleon declared, was not found in his 
escaping from difficulties and disasters, but in his coping boldly with 
and proving superior to them. Jackson was often environed with diffi- 
culties apparently insuperable and confronted with disaster. He 
invariably cut through difficulties, and changed disaster with the 
alchemy of genius into victory. His famous daring flank movements 
were never repeated, and the "luck" of striking the enemy in the 
rear and beating him with little loss, never afterward attended us — 
for the cause of that luck had departed. 

You might as well say that luck produced the battle pictures of 
Horace Vernet as that it won Jackson's victories. Without brush 
and paint — without men and arms — the artist and the soldier could 
have done nothing. But many have had brush and paint — many 
have had more men and more arms — but none have brought forth 
from them such picitures, such victories. 

One of his own soldiers threw into rough verse, a sketch of Jack- 
son's way :* 

Come stack arms, men ; pile on the rails ; 

Stir up the camp fires bright ; 
No matter if the canteen fails, 

We'll make a roaring night. 
Here Shenandoah brawls along. 
There lofty Blue Ridge echoes strong 
To swell the Brigade's roaring song. 
Of Stonewall Jackson's way ! 

We see him now — the old slouched hat. 

Cocked o'er his eye askew; 
The shrewd dry smile, the speech so pat, 

So calm, so blunt, so true. 
The "Blue-Light Elder" knows them well: 
Says he "that's Banks — he's fond of shell. 
Lord save his soul ! we'll give him " well 

That's Stonewall Jackson's way ! 



*This lyric came from an unknown lyre. " Des Rivierres" is the name 
appended in print, but who that is we have no idea. 



46 

Silence! ground arms ! Kneel all ! caps oft'! 

Old Blue Light's going to pray ; 
Strangle the fool that dares to scoff ! 

Attention ! it's his way ! 
Appealing from his native sod 
In forma pauperis to God, 
"Lay bare thine arm, — stretch forth thy rod, 

Amen!" That's Stonewall Jackson's way ! 

He's in the saddle now ! fall in. 

Steady the whole Brigade, 
Hill's at the Ford cut off! we'll win 

His way out, ball and blade. 
What matter if our shoes are worn ? 
What matter if our feet are torn ? 
Quick step ! we're with him before morn ! 

That's Stonewall Jackson's way ! 

The sun's bright lances rout the mists 

Of morning — and by George ! 
There's Longstreet struggling in the lists 

Hemmed in an ugly gorge. 
Pope and his columns whipped before — 
"Bayonets and grape" — hear Stonewall roar; 
"Charge Stuart! pay off Ashby's score! 
That's Stonewall Jackson's way ! 

Ah 1 maiden, wait and watch and yearn 
For news of Stonewall's band ; 

Ah ! widow, read with eyes that burn, 
That ring upon thy hand. 

Ah ! wife sew on, pray on, hope on, 

Thy life shall not be all forlorn ; 

The foe had better ne'er been born, 
Than get in Stonewall's way ! 



XI 

General Joseph E. Johaston is said to have expressed the opinion 
that General Jackson was not a great strategist. General Johnston, 
we believe, was the most profound military man of the war — a man 
of cool, comprehensive and penetrating sagacity, but his opinion on 
this point is rebutted by the plain record of facts. The Valley cam- 
paign, and Richmond, and Manassas, and Chancellorsville rebuke it. 



47 

General Johnston, with talents oi' a superior order, was yet not so 
well fitted to lead such a forlorn hope as the Southern Revolution as 
General Jackson was. He was not so practical, so energetic, so 
daring. The Revolution depended upon audacious advances, not 
upon masterly retreats, and as soon as the retrogade system was 
adopted the days of the Confederacy were numbered. General 
Johnston's campaign in Georgia against Sherman was a master 
piece of military workmanship, and the spectacle of the hot-headed 
Minucius Hood, throwing away the rare opportunity that the skill 
of our Fabius had won, is the saddest of the war. But the Fabian 
policy, although skillfully carried out as it was by Johnston, was the 
wrong policy. The times did not call for Fabius — they wanted 
Scipio. We are proud of General Johnston's skill, but it was not 
the peculiar kind of skill that suited the obstacles we had to contend 
against. Jackson's was. 

The Fabian policy was the judicious one for Washington and his 
generals during the Revolutionary War, because they made rivers, 
swamps, wildernesses, starvation and disease their allies. It was 
fatal to us because iron-clads. railroads, pontoon bridges, hospitals, 
telegraphs, with Germany, Ireland, and a united North, followed us, 
and we had nothing but naked patriotism to oppose them. 



XII 

The kindly relations of confidence, and friendship which existed 
between Jackson and Lee throw a genial light over the glory of 
both. Jackson said of his chief " Lee is a phenomenon, I would fol- 
low him blindfold." Lee said of him when wounded " Jackson has 
lost his left arm. I have lost my right arm ; " and wrote to him with 
magnanimous sympathy : " could I have dictated events I should 
have chosen for the good of the country to have been disabled in 
your stead." '' Far better for the Confederacy,'' exclaimed Jackson 
when he read the note, '" that ten Jacksons should have fallen than 
one Lee." Criticism can only stand with uncovered head in the 
presence of such men — but criticism should be just in opinion, as 
well as generous in emotion. Comparing Jackson, and Lee the con- 
trast is so striking that the comparison is difficult. For several 
reasons, however, we believe that Jackson was better suited to lead the 
armies of the revolution than Lee. 



48 

" Everywhere " says a brilliant historian of England " there is 
a class of men who cling with fondness to whatever is ancient, and 
who, even when convinced by overpowering reasons that innovation 
would be beneficial, consent to it with many misgivings, and forebod- 
ings. We find also another class of men sanguine in hope, bold in 
speculation, always pressing forward, quick to discern the imperfec- 
tions of whatever exists, disposed to think lightly of the risks and 
inconveniences that attend improvements, and disposed to give every 
change credit for being an improvement."* Each class has its 
great representatives, and in war we find the one slow, methodical 
and cautious, and its glories are those of stubborn defence. The 
other never inactive pushes boldly forwaid, stakes all upon a well 
considered venture, and meets with decisive victory, or annihilation. 
Of one class Lee is a type, of the other Jackson — and Jackson's was 
the type we needed. Jackson was ambitious — Lee was not. Jack- 
son sprung from poverty and obscurity, had to hew his way upward. 
Lee the scion of an influential, and aristocratic house which traced 
its lineage to the Norman conquest, the favorite subordinate of Gen- 
eral Scott, the commander-in-chief of the United States Army, and 
his prospective successor, had nothing to gain from a disruption of 
the Union, but everything to lose. All of Lee's associations with the 
Government and the people were calculated to give a national and 
conservative tone to his character; the influences operating upon 
Jackson made him sectional and revolutionary. Lee's home was in 
full sight of the dome of the National Capitol, and he was admired 
and loved by all classes of the Capital city. He was besides on 
cordial terms of friendship with all the prominent ofiicers of the 
army from the North, and felt a pang at the idea of severing his 
connection with a service which was endeared by the most sacred 
associations. When Virginia seceded there was a struggle in his 
bosom. He was opposed to the idea of a Southern Confederacy, and 
above all he was opposed to the peculiar institution which was to 
become its corner stone. f While thus wavering he was waited upon 
by a member of Mr. Lincoln's cabinet and tendered command of the 
United States Army.| The glittering bribe could not swerve the 



* Macaulay, Vol. I. p. 93. 

f "I Lave always been in favor of emancipation." — Lee's testimony he/ore Congressional Com- 
mittee." McCabe's Life of Lee, p. 701. 

X lion. Montgomery Blair lia« so stated since the war in a pnblislioil letter. See also McC.abe, 
page 29. 



49 

pure soul of Robert Lee from its duty. A sentiment of honor bound 
him to his native State, and he determined to side with her, con- 
vinced though he was that her course was unwise, and held back as 
he was by his devotion to the Union. To his sister he wrote : " With 
all my devotion to the Union, and the feeling of loyalty and duty of 
an Americon citizen, I have not been able to make up my mind to 
raise my hand against my relatives, my children, my home. I have, 
therefore, resigned my commission in the army, and save in defence 
of my native State, with the sincere hope that my poor services may 
never be needed, I hope I may never be called upon to draw my 
sword."* 

Locke has observed that there is no better proof of a man's great- 
ness than his earnest efforts to carry out views which he originally 
opposed. It is a proof of Lee's greatness, and to his undying glory, 
that he promptly espoused the cause of his people when the issue 
was made up, and fought ibr it with unsurpassed heroism. But in 
criticising his campaigns we should not fail to estimate the effect of 
his political opinions upon his military character. Lee fought for a 
cause which he adopted with reluctance, and then not for its own 
sake, but simply from a technical view of its abstract right, and a 
warm-hearted sympathy with its people. This fact dampened his 
ardor and his hopes, and clouded his mind with misgivings and fore- 
bodings of an evil end. Heroically and magnificently as he fought, 
he did not fight with that confidence, that go-ahedd-ativeness, that 
audacity, that fiery enthusiasm, which would have marked his course 
had his full faith fought with him. 

Jackson, for a decade before the war, had mingled freely with and 
imbibed the sentiments of the people. He fully believed in the 
Southern Confederacy and in slavery, and he fought for both with 
the unshaken conviction that they were destined to endure, and 
that he was raised up to defend them. 

Whether we are correct or not in conjecturing the causes of the 
difference in the military ideas and conduct of the two generals, 
certain it is that the difference existed. All the daring and brilliant 
strokes of the Army of Northern Virginia, after Lee assumed com- 
mand of it, which were successful, were planned or executed by 
Jackson. In glancing at its battles we almost invariably behold 
Jackson at the crisis falling upon the enemy by a startling flank 
attack, and striking the fatal blow. It was his rapid march, his sud- 

*McCabe, ji. 31. 
G 



50 

den apparition, and lais sharp thrusts that turned McClellan from 
Richmond. It was Lee who checked pursuit at the river. It was 
Jackson who first beheld the "back of John Pope" at Cedar Run, 
and who by his adroit manoeuvres at Manasses held that redoubtable 
chieftain in check until Lee came up, and the two gave him a quietus 
together. To Jackson mainly is due the credit of capturing at Har- 
per's Ferry 13,000 men and 73 pieces of cannon on the 15th of Sep- 
tember, 1862, while on the day before Lee himself, at Boonsboro, 
having been tardy in bringing up Longstreet's division, received a 
rough handling from McClellan. They share jointly in the glories 
of Sharpsburg, but the only results of the Maryland campaign 
which redounded to our permanent benefit were those achieved by 
Jackson. 

At Fredericksburg we behold a brilliant opportunity for crushing 
Burnside thrown away by Lee's over-caution. It is not doubted by 
either Federals or Confederates that had Lee pushed forward while 
Burnside's troops were crouching under the banks of the Rappahan- 
nock, he would have captured or destroyed them — Jackson was in 
favor of the effort at the time. It was Jackson, finally, who outdone 
Hooker at Chancellorsville, and [it is a significant fact that that loas 
the last occasion on tvMch the Army of Northern Virginia drove the 
Army of the Potomac beyond cannon range of the contest. 

At Gettysburg, three months afterwards, Lee stopped on the first 
day at the very moment of victory. On the second day he was 
beaten in detail in consequence of a disjointed and ill-regulated 
attack. On the third day the blunders of the second were fatally 
repeated. Many a soldier exclaimed, as he saw the opportunities of 
Gettysburg wasted, "oh for an hour of Jackson." 

There was no fault to be found with the men. The Army was at 
the acme of its morale and physique at Gettysburg. It fought as 
well after its d(efeats as its victories, and as well after Jackson's death 
as before, but "^'it was noticed," as Mr. Swinton has observed "that 
Lee ventured upon no strokes of audacity after Jackson had passed 
away." * 

The same author has expressed the opinion that "Jackson was 
essentially an executive officer, and though incomparable in that 
sphere, he was destitute of that power of planning and combination, 
and of that calm broad military intellect which distinguished General 
Lee."f But Jackson won his series of brilliant victories in the Valley 

*Anny ol tlio rotoniac, p. 290. fid. p. 290. 



51 

not as an executive officer, but as a general commanding with sole 
responsibility, and with no dependence on the counsel or direction of 
others. Jackson seemed more independent of Lee than Lee of him. 
His movements were generally of his own suggestion, and of that 
character whose chief merit consists in execution. Perhaps Lee's 
intellect was broader but it was not so keen. Against the mail-clad 
North the broad sword of Lee struck noble blows, but they could 
not cleave it. The rapier-like blade of Jackson penetrated the 
greaves and gave terrible wounds at every thrust. 

Lee's ablest and most effective campaign was that against Grant 
from the Rappahannock to the James The figures which attest Lee's 
excellent generalship, and Grant's bloody stolidity are startling. The 
armies met May 5th, 1864.* Grant had 125,000 effective men besides 
his reserve. Lee had 52,000. Giant's reinforcements up to June 
3d, numbered 97,000 ; Lee's 18,000. Grant's total 222,000— Lee's 
total 70,000. Official returns show that up to 10th of June Lee had 
put 117,000 of Grant's men hors du combat, and lost but 19,000 of 
his own. " It will be seen that Grant's total force, including reinforce- 
ments, was 152.000, and his loss 9,800 in excess of Lee's, or that, 
with a force outnumbering his opponents three to one, Grant, the 
bungler, lost every other man in his army, while Lee lost but two out 
of every nine; or, that Grant lost just 6,000 men, more than one 
and a-half times Lee's entire army. That Grant succeeded is true 
but a general would have accomplished the same result with less 
means, and less loss." Such is the commentary of a Northern 
editor. It was derided when the South said that one of her soldiers 
was equal when defending his fireside to five of his enemies. Grant 
acknowledged it in his theory of the war, and proved it in his prac- 
tice. On this campaign alone Lee's fame finds an imperishable 
foundation. It elevates him to the foremost rank of military men 
with Turenne, Eugene, Marlborough, and Wellington. No officer's 
abilities were ever more mathematically demonstrated than Lee's. 

Adam Smith said "it is a characteristic almost peculiar to the 
great Duke of Marlborough that ten years of such uninterrupted, 
and splendid successes, as scarce any other general could boast of, 
never betrayed him into a single rash action, scarce into a single rash 
word or expression." Lee possessed the same temperate coolneess, 
and self command as Marlborough without his weaknesses, or his 

*Tlus calculation is taken from the N. Y. World— .Tunc 9tli. ISOS. 



52 

vices. During four years of unremitting battle he stood calm, reso- 
lute, and imperturbable never betrayed by his varying fortunes into 
a single rash action, or uttering a rash expression. His enemies 
respected him scarce less than his friends, and it was equally honor- 
able to him, and to the federal troops, that when a body of federal 
infantry passing down a street in Richmond after the surrender, 
caught a glimpse of his form, through a neighboring window, they 
raised their hats and gave him a splendid cheer. 

Take him all in all he is greater as a man, but we thinkj not 
greater as a general, than Jackson. 

The striking contrast between the universal popularity of Lee and 
Jackson, and the unpopularity of Jefferson Davis is explained by the 
fact that the former were simply soldiers — the latter a politician. 

The North unanimously, and the South partially, referred the 
responsibility of the war to Mr. Davis. They knew that Lee and 
Jackson had no hand in bringing it about. Lee and Jackson had no 
associates in the North but friends. Davis, as the representative of 
Southern ideas and measures, had been thrown into fierce collision 
with Northern men from every State north of Mason's and Dixon's 
line. Lee parted from his old comrades in the army with tears in 
his eyes. Davis parted from his opponents in the Senate with indig- 
nation flashing in his. Davis was regarded by the North as erupting 
the Union and seeking to establish a new confederacy to gratify his 
personal ambition. Lee and Jackson were regarded as simply defend- 
ing their people from a sentiment of duty. 

These opinions must perish with the passions that engendered 
them, and the day will come when all classes will yield a hearty admira- 
tion to the great abilities and the unblemished character of Jefferson 
Davis. The hot lava of fanatical passion which would now destroy 
him, will when cool be wrou<rht into images to his honor. 



XIII 

Our cause suffered incalculable injury from a radical source of 
evil for which the Confederate Congress was responsible mainly, and 
Davis, Lee, Jackson, and our other leaders secondarily; that is, the 
miserable unmilitary and unreasonable system of promotion in the 
Confederate Army which filled its high places with ignorant and 



53 

incompetent officers. The officers of the regiments were originally 
elected — the privates choosing company officers, and the company 
officers choosing field officers. The vacancies constantly occurring 
were filled by regular gradation. lago, in the Army of Northern 
Virginia, would have been delighted to see preferment go 

"by old gradation, where each second 
Stood heir to the first," 

though he would have seen many a " fellow" honored with stars and 
bars and wreaths, 

"Who never set a squadron in the field 
Nor the division of a battle knew 
More than a spinster." 

In short, the men from personal favoritism chose the lieutenants 
and captains, and the enemy's bullets made the majors, colonels, and 
generals. A major, for instance, was killed. According to law the 
senior captain succeeded him, unless proved to be incompetent. How- 
ever gifted, however well educated, however striking the military 
abilities or deserving the exploits of the second captain, he found an 
insurmountable obstacle to advancement in the person of his superior 
in rank. That technical superior might be ever so inferior in every 
essential, he still had the right to demand promotion. There was, 
therefore, no incentive to the laudable and generous aspirations of 
the subordinate officers. If they could manage to absent themselves 
from their regiments until their seniors were killed they were sure of 
promotion. If they performed prodigies of valor they could get it 
no sooner. Thus selfishness and mediocrity were starred and wreathed 
while patriotism and heroism bled and died in silence. 

" Quels sont les braves P" Napoleon used to ask when he rode 
amongst his thinned ranks after a battle. When pointed out they 
were decorated with honors and advanced to high rank. No general 
of the South ever asked for the braves after a battle. They were 
left if wounded to lie unnoticed in hospitals ; if unscathed, to fight 
on with every prospect of wounds and death, but without prospect of 
any reward save that of an approving conscience. 

It is discreditable to the Confederate Government that it adopted 
such a system, and Lee, Jackson, and our other prominent generals, 
are to be blamed for tolerating it. True, these officers had no arbi- 
trary power to remove the impediment, but they ought to have 
entered a daily protest against it, and persisted with all their ener- 



54 

gies in denouncing it. It was a deadly cancer in our military system, 
and proved fatal. 

The Yankees did better. Like the French, they instantly degraded 
incompetence and rewarded merit. The consequence was that their 
officers were daily improving as a class, and ours depreciating. At 
the end of the war the best military talent of the North led its 
armies, and the best military talent of the South was still latent. 
Republican sensibilities were shocked during the Crimean war by the 
despicable regulation of the British service which forbade Lord 
Raglan to mention in an official report a non-commissioned officer who 
had saved his army. Common sense was as much shocked by the 
inability of the Confederate President to promote a private or 
sergeant to a captaincy because of the claims of a first lieutenant. 

As dearly as we love, as truly as we honor Lee, and Jackson, and 
Davis, and Early, and Stuart, and their illustrious peers, far more 
warmly does the heart yearn, far more reverentially does the head 
bow to the devoted people whom they represented — the heroic army 
they led. History has heroes that stand on a level with our leaders 
— it has never had an army or a people that stand on so high a plane 
as our army and our people. It is impossible to separate them. 
Upon our battle fields we saw only the lessons of our firesides in 
action. As were the mothers, and sisters, and wives in the interior, 
so were the sons, brothers, and fathers in the front. The people 
were for the time absorbed in the army, and every true citizen of the 
South can justly share in the glory of the tribute thus spoken by one 
who fought against them: "Nor can there fail," says Mr. Swinton 
in his history; "Nor can there fail to arise the image of that other 
army that was the adversary of the Army of the Potomac — and 
which who can ever forget that once looked upon it ? That array of 
'tattered uniforms and bright muskets' — that body of incomparable 
infantry, the Army of Northern Virginia, which for four years car- 
ried the revolt upon its bayonets, opposing a constant front to the 
mighty concentration of power brought against it; which, receiving 
terrible blows, did not fail to give the like; and which, vital in all 
its parts, died only with its annihilation."* 



*Swinton, p. 16. 



55 

XIV 

Dr. Dabney in his work, repudiates the comparison of Jackson to 
Cromwell, but asserts that Jackson had all of Cromwell's genius "both 
military and civic;" * but it seems to us that the Doctor has at once 
over-estimated Jackson, and under-rated the great Puritan leader. 
Jackson was his equal — even his superior as a general, but whether 
or not he possessed comparable talents as a statesman must remain a 
matter of pure speculation. 

Cromwell's abilities as a statesman were tested and proved by his 
course as a legislator, and as a ruler. Jackson's were never called 
into play, — and although, as his biographer shows, he expressed very 
sensible opinions on public afiairs, there is not the slightest evidence 
that he had the genius which controls senates, and exercises a guiding- 
influence on the complicated affairs of state. In point of intellect 
Jackson was far inferior to Cromwell. The letters, the speeches, and 
public acts of Cromwell reveal a deep knowledge of human nature, an 
administrative sagacity, and a high degree of versatility. Jackson 
has left us no speeeches,f and the letters from which Dr. Dabney has 
profusely quoted so far from shewing extensive information or pro- 
found observation are rather dull than otherwise, and would never be 
read but for the "shadow of a great name" that protects them. 

A man of Jackson's earnestness is apt to succeed in any enterprise 
but there are no indications that he had peculiar fitness for the 
negotiations of diplomacy, the deliberations of cabinets, or the con- 
tests of the forum. The battle-field was his arena — he is not identi- 
fied with any great idea of the South, but her genius for war found 
in him its best representative. The friends who make the assertion 
that he was intellectually great, do him injustice, and only lead to the 
disappointment of those who search his history for the verification. 

There was nothing in his conversation, nothing in his writings, 
nothing in his deeds that unmistakeably indicate a comprehensive, 
or versatile mind; nor have those who were associated with him before 
or during the war, except in a few cases, held such an opinion ; and 
the enlightened views of friends, and associates are fair criterions of 
character. These who lavish such compliments upon General Jack- 
son do not appreciate the true elements of his heroic nature, and the 
true causes of his wonderful achievements. 



*p. 13. 

f A brief speech of Jackson to his troops is excepted. It is striking na 
a soldier's — nothing more. 

L.ofC. 



56 

A comparison of Jackson to Napoleon, in point of genius, is utterly 
preposterous. Like Napoleon, Jackson was "a man of stone and 
iron, capable of sitting on horseback sixteen or seventeen hours, of 
going many days together without rest or food, except by snatches, 
and with speed and spring of a tiger in action ;"* but there the like- 
ness ends. Napoleon was a universal man. Circumstances only 
determined whether he should be the greatest orator, poet, philoso- 
pher, law-giver, or scientific man of his age. He was so bountifully 
endowed by nature that he did become the leader of men in almost 
every department of learning and science. The grandest ideas of 
the grandest men of all times met together in his brain. The very 
glance of his eye consumed opposition like fire, and there " were 
words in him like Austerlitz battles." His profound calculations 
embraced continents — his minute observation descended to the spoke 
of a cannon wheel, and the buckle of a harness. Time, distance, 
mountains, seas, seasons, shrunk, expanded and changed-at his dicta- 
tion. The hemisphere adjusted itself to his notions./ There was no 
genius like this in Jackson. Plain, silent, hard-working, brave and 
active, he succeeded not by extending his mind to embrace all 
elements, but by contracting it and keeping it steadily bent upon the 
study of war. 

"Wellington," said Madame de Stael, "has not two ideas off the 
battlefield." There is a grain of truth in the remark. It was on 
the battle-field that great ideas sprung up in Jackson's brain — off of 
it he had none that would have made him memorable. 

Morally Jackson towers as high above Napoleon as Napoleon 
towers intellectually above himV "I must dazzle and astonish," was 
the idea that lived and moved and had its being in Napoleon. 
" Dieu et mon droit" was incarnated in Jackson. Essentially selfish. 
Napoleon cared not what hearts were broken, what blood was spilled, 
provided the triumphal column held his image on its summit. Sub- 
ordinating himself in all things to duty, Jackson had a heart for any 
llite, provided it were soothed by a still and quiet conscience. "As 
false as a bulletin" became a proverb in Napoleon's time — he became 
a text for the father of his to preach from — his bulletins had but one 
object, the glorification of self. 

Read Jackson's dispatches — they are models of simplicity and 



♦Emerson's Ropresentative Men, p. 22G. 



57 

truth. When he is not informed as to facts, he is silent. Here are 
two : 

" Valley District, May 9, '63, 

via Staunton, May 10th. 
To General S. Cooper. 

God blessed our arms with victory at McDowell yesterday. 

T. J. JACKSON, Major-General." 

"Port Republic, June 9th, 

via Staunton, June 10th, 1S62. 
To S. Cooper, Adjutant- General. 

Through God's blessing, the enemy, near Port Republic, was this day 
routed with the loss of six pieces of his artillery. 

T. J. JACKSON, Major- General." 

This is his style — the usual exordium of acknowledgement to 
God — and then laconic statement of fact, in which no egotism 
intrudes. 

The simplicity observable in his dispatches is observable in all 
his manners and actions. A writer from the army during the 
war very justly said, " General Jackson's head-quarters are often 
under a tree, and his couch is in a fence corner; his equip- 
ment is little more than a frying-pan and a blanket. He sees per- 
sonally to the execution of his own orders. The activity of a per- 
petual ' forward ' seems to pervade his army ; they never get out of 
ammunition ; they never lose baggage or stores ; whether drawn 
from the government or captured from the enemy, no matter, they 
are always ready to move at the right time." * 



We approach the last scene in the drama of Jackson's career. 

The Army of Northern Virginia spent the winter of 1862-'63 on 
the banks of the Rappahannock, near Fredericksburg, and at dawn 
of the 29th of April it was started from its huts by the long roll 
upon the drum, which, mingling with the rattle of musketry, 
announced that " fighting Joe Hooker" was about to try his fortunes 
against Lee. 

Wellington's foresight in studying the field of Waterloo a year 
before the battle gave him signal advantage over Napoleon. Jackson, 
with characteristic prudence, had studied the adjacent country 

•Dnvis ami Jacksou, p. 276. 
H 



58 

during the winter months, and was prepared to avail himself of 
every tactical and strategic advantage over Hooker. It was a moment 
that called forth every element of our generalship and soldiership. 
Hooker, with 120,000 infantry and artillery, and 10,000 cavalry, 
confronted Lee, who had only 45,000 infantry and artillery and 
and a small force of cavalry.* 

Hooker's plans soon developed. Leaving Sedgwick with 22,000 
men at Fredericksburg, he crossed the Rappahannock at Kelly's 
Ford, twenty-seven miles above, with the remainder, and appeared at 
Chancellorsville, ten miles from Lee's left at Fredericksburg, on May 
the 1st; and confident that his advantageous position would force 
Lee to retreat, he announced to his army that "the enemy must 
either ingloriously fly, or come out from behind his defences and give 
us battle on our own ground, where certain destruction awaits him ;" 
and boastfully asserted amongst his officers and men that " the rebel 
army is now the legitimate property of the Army of the Potomac"! 

Leaving Early in the trenches at Fredericksburg with five brigades 
of 7,500 bayonets to hold at bay his three-fold over-numerous foe, 
Lee turned to Chancellorsville, and with 38,000 faced Hooker's 
95,000. On the night of the 2d of May Jackson suggested an idea 
which Lee immediately approved and adopted, and on the 3d it was 
put in execution. Winding rapidly around Hooker's right flank 
with Rodes', Colston's, and A. P. Hill's divisions, not quite 18,000 
strong, Jackson gained the reverse of the Union lines by 5 o'clock in 
the evening. Hooker's scouts had caught a glimpse of this column as 
it passed his right flank, but that commander never divining its pur- 
pose, concluded that it was "ingloriously flying," and dispatched to 
Sedgwick : " We know the enemy is flying, trying to save his trains. "| 
It was near sunset. Scarcely a sound disturbed the solemn solitudes of 
the wilderness, save, perhaps, a dried twig broke under the foot of 
the startled deer§ that snuff"ed mischief in the evening breeze. The 



* "General Longstreet, with two divisions of his corps, was detached for 
service south of James River in February, and did not rejoin the army until 
after the battle of Chancellorsville." — Lees Report. 

t Svvinton : Army of the Potomac, p. 275. 

X Swinton, p. 284. " It happened that the road along which Jackson's 
column was filing bends somewhat southward, so that though the move- 
ment was discovered, it was misinterpreted as a retreat towards Richmond 
on the part of Lee." 

g Deer were actually started up by our troops. 



59 

federal troops, apprehending no danger save from Lee in front, had 
thrown up earthworks to repel him, and with countenances smiling 
in conscious security and anticipated victory, were taking their 
evening meal. Suddenly there arose a deafening cheer, and the 
earth shook with the tramp of rushing lines and the thunder of 
cannon. The smoke clears away, and behold the wreck of a ruined 
host! A corps of 11,000 men had been shivered as by lightning. * 
The tide of victory was rising — the rout of Hooker had begun ; but 
stop ! our leader — where is he ? 

"They had fought like brave men, hard and well ; 
They had piled the ground with foemen slain ; 
They had conquered ; but their Jackson fell 
Bleeding at every vein." 

It was alas too true ! Filled with a sense of the momentous issues 
of the moment, and his whole soul aflame with the ardor of battle, 
Jackson had ridden in advance of his skirmish line preparatory to 
pushing forward his troops in vigorous pursuit. He had just decided 
where to strike, and had sent a courier with his last battle order : 
" Tell A. P. Hill to press right on." Turning to ride back, his own 
troops mistook him and his staff for federal cavalry and fired upon 
them. His right hand was pierced, and his left arm broken in two 
places. Several of his attendants were killed.. With firm self- 
possession he reined his horse with his wounded hand, but presently 
fell fainting in the arms of his staff. They were accidentally joined 
in a few minutes by A. P. Hill and his aides. They were so near 
the enemy's lines that two skirmishers came up to the group around 
the stricken General and were captured. The blood was soon 
staunched, and he was placed upon a litter; but just at this time the 
rallying enemy and our advanced line came in contact, a tempest of 
grape-shot swept over them, one of the litter bearers was cut down 
and the General hurled violently to the earth. 

Thus ended the story of Stonewall Jackson. 

Where in the annals of our race can we find so touching a spectacle 
of the vanity of human hopes, and the frailty of human glory ? 



*" The 11th corps had been brushed way. * * * .lackson had seized 
the breastworks, had taken the whole line in reverse, pushed forward to 
within half-a-mile of head-quarters, and now proceeded to make prepa- 
rations for following up his success by a blow that should be decisive." 
— Su'inton, p. 2S7. 



60 

Where shall we find so much glory compressed ia a short time — 
where so sad and sudden a termination ? Two years before an 
unknown colonel of artillery — now a great leader, whose every word 
was a harbinger of destiny — whose every act varied the drama of 
history. Twenty victories had culminated in this supreme exertion 
of his genius — the glories of Chancellorsville had risen upon the 
mingled glories of twenty fields. 

" Like another morn 
Risen upon midnoon." 

The arm of the hero is raised to strike the final blow which is to 
make the sun of victory stand still I When lo ! itself is struck, and 
the leader of hosts lies there upon the earth a feeble piece of bleed- 
ing clay, while the rush of feet is around him, and the pitiless battle 
hail robs him even of his gory bed. 

They carried him from the field to the house of a friend, and 
all that love and skill could do was done for him. There were 
sad faces in the old Second Corps when the dreadful news was whis- 
pered along the lines that night, and down the powder and dust- 
stained cheek of many a veteran trickled the long unknown tear. 
" Jackson wounded !" They heard it with mingled incredulity and 
dread. They had seen him so often sitting upon his horse in the 
midst of fire and slaughter, with placid countenance, and hand up- 
raised in prayer, that they knew him impregnable to fear — they had 
seen him so often come forth unscathed that they had begun to 
believe that he wore a charmed life impregnable to danger. But the 
truth was relentless. He had fallen. Would he live ? Would he 
rise again and return to them after a season ? These were the 
anxious questions now. Stuart was sent for and the next day his 
plume floated over their bayonets as they pierced the enemys ranks, 
and the cry mingled with their cheers, " charge and remember Jack- 
son!" His name there, and in all their after battles fought with 
them — alas ! it could not guide them. 

For a few days Jackson lingered. His left arm had been ampu- 
tated, and disease had supervened upon his wound. But he was 
cheerful and hopeful. He spoke with all affection of his officers and 
men, and expressed the opinion, which history must afiirm, that had 
he not been wounded Hooker's Army would have been utterly anni- 
hilated. Yet with characteristic modesty he said of his movement 
" I expect to receive far more credit for it than I deserve. Most men 



61 

will think I planned it from the first; but it was not so — I simply 
took advantage of circumstances as they were presented to me in the 
providence of God. I feel that his hand led me — let us give him all 
the glory." * 

On the morning of the 10th of May, his wife who had come to 
attend him informed him that the Doctors said there was no hope — 
he must "soon be in heaven.'" He only answered "I prefer it, and 
I will be an infinite gainer 'to be translated.' " Did ever the parting 
soul meet the last enemy more nobly ? 

In his last hours his mind wandered — perhaps back to the battle- 
field : " tell A. P. Hill to prepare for action," he said. At another 
time "tell Major Hawksf to send forward provisions for the troops." 
Again " it is all right." In his last moments he murmured " let us 
pass over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees." Perhaps 
he saw again the green banks of the Shenandoah, perhaps he caught 
a glimpse of those " green pastures, and still waters " where the 
weary are at rest : and thus with resignation to the will of heaven, 
and anticipation of its joys, the soul of our great warrior passed 
away from us. J; 

How like were his to the dying words of Arthur, the blameless 
King, as the Poet Laureate has rendered them : 

"I am going a long way 
To the Island valley of Avilion, 
Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow, 
Nor ever wind blows loudly ; but it lies 
Deep meadowed, happy, fair with orchard lawns 
And bowery hollows crowned with summer sea. 
Where I will heal me of my grievous wound." 

•'• Dr. Dabuey's life of Jackson. 

t His Commissary. 

X I give Mr. Swinton's remarks, though not concurring in them. 

"Thus died Stonewall Jackson the ablest of Lee's lieutenants. Jackson 
was essentially an executive officer, and in this sphere he was incomparable. 
Devoid of high mental pajts, and destitute of that power of planning and 
combination, and of that calm broad military intellect, which distinguished 
General Lee whom he regarded with a child-like reverence, and whose 
designs he loved to carry out, he had yet those elements of character that, 
above all else, inspire troops. A fanatic in religion, fully believing he was 
destined by heaven to beat his enemy whenever he encountered him, he 
infused something of his own fervent faith into his men, and at the time of 
his death haji trained a corps whose attacks in column were unique, and 

ida- 
^90. 



irresistibl9^ and it was noticed that Lee ventured upon no strokes of auc 
city after Jackson had passed &w&y^/— Army of the Potomac, Swinton p. 2i 



G2 

Jackson was dead ! It struck every Southerner like a bolt in the 
bosom. The great right arm of Lee that had been uplifted so often 
in prayer, and had descended so terribly, after gathering strength 
from heaven, was shattered — gone. Lee fought henceforth one armed. 

Ewell, Early, and Gordon succeeded in turn to the command of 
the Second Corps. They were noble, heroic, and able generals, but it 
is no disparagement of either to say that neither filled the place 
vacated by Jackson. It is but just to them to add that neither had 
the opportunity. 

From friend and foe alike came his praise. We can all join in 
the tribute paid him by our ex-President while a captive : "For 
glory," said he, "he had lived long enough, and if this result 
had to come it was the Divine mercy that removed him. He fell like 
the eagle, his own feather on the shaft that was dripping with his 
life blood. In his death the Confederacy lost an eye and an arm, our 
only consolation being that his summons could have reached no 
soldier more prepared to accept it joyfully."* Nor will we be 
lacking in esteem for the generous, patriotic, and christian spirit of 
the Northern editor who rose above the unholy passions which the 
war had aroused, and paid this tribute to the genius and character 
of Jackson :f "No other man has impressed the imagination of our 
soldiers and the community as much as he. An unknown name at 
the beginning of the war, save to his brother officers and his classes 
in the military school at Lexington, Virginia, his footsteps were 
earliest in the field from which now death has withdrawn him. But 
in two years he has made his name familiar in every civilized land on 
the globe as a general of rare skill, resource, and energy. No other 
general of the South could develope so much power out of slender and 
precarious means, by the fervid inspiration of his own mind, as Jack- 
son. He had absolute control of his men, seeming almost to fascinate 
them. * * * Henceforth we know him no more after the flesh. 
He is no longer a foe. We think of him pow as a noble-minded 
gentleman, a rare and eminent christian. For years he had been an 
active member of the Presbyterian church of which he was a ruling 
elder. He never, in all the occupations of the camp or temptations 
of campaigns, lost the fervor of his piety or remitted his christian 
duties. * * * Let no man suppose that the North will triumph 



* Craven's Prison Life of .Tefforson Davis. 

t Letter to New York Independent, quoted in Doolady'n sketch of Jackson, p. 248. 



63 

over a fallen son with insulting gratulations. No where else will the 
name of Jackson be more honored." We respect the author of such 
sentiments. Let the hates and resentments of the war perish with 
it. The time shall come when in either section there shall survive 
only admiration for what is best in each; and then from above the 
firesides of the American People the iron moulded countenance of 
Stonewall Jackson, and the benignant, patriarchal countenance of 
Robert Lee shall look down upon the rising generations. 



«:?^>< 
^ 



CHARACTER 



STONEWALL JACKSON. 



By JOHN WARWICK DANIEL. 



-/; 



lEApj 



